Housing market inventory is starting to recover. : Real Estate with Mr. G

man in white t shirt and black pants standing in front of white concrete house during — Photo by Kindel Media on Pexels.com

(Per an article I saw on Housing Wire, I am also beginning to see more homes come on the market
via our local Multiple Listing Service.)

“In nearly every market, 20% more inventory means 20% more home sales,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR April 16, 2021, 11:59 am By Tim Glaze

Housing starts jumped in March, recovering from a bleak February that included wild winter storms in the South, according to a recent report from the Census Bureau. Single-family housing starts rose 15.3% over the month to a pace of 1.24 million annualized units. That’s up 37% from a year ago, but it’s important to take into account that the COVID-19 virus first took hold of the housing market in March 2020, said Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae.

“The March pace was the second strongest since 2006, surpassed only by this past December’s reading,” Duncan said. “An extremely tight supply of existing homes for sale combined with still-favorable mortgage rates and an improving labor market will continue to support demand for new housing. Suburban multifamily housing construction is also benefitting from this trend.”

For now, Duncan said, the supply of existing homes for sale and an elevated level of new homes sold — but not yet constructed — should help bolster a strong construction pace of new housing starts moving into the spring buying season.

“While housing demand is expected to remain strong, we expect it to diminish somewhat as the year progresses due to the waning effect of the COVID-19 disruption to homebuyers’ purchasing timelines,” Duncan said.