The media and the pundits have written about and discussed the increase in home sales in the Massachusetts real estate market, but not much has been said about what I think is the most important story playing out right now: Inventory.
The Massachusetts housing supply in December was at its lowest level since December 2001.
The inventory for homes on the market in Massachusetts has significantly declined overall, and first-time home buyers looking for homes for less than $300,000 know that inventory is extremely tight. Home buyers in the $250,000 to about $325,000 price range need to be extremely focused on one or two communities in order to be ready to identify and act when a good home, in a good location, price right hits the market.
The inventory of single-family homes as of December 30, 2009 decreased 14 percent from December 2008 (25,178 listings in 2008 to 21,743 listings in 2009) which translates into 7.2 months of supply in December 2009, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors® reported January 26, 2010.
December 2009's inventory is down from 9.6 months of supply last year and slightly up from 6.5 months in November 2009. December supply was at its lowest level since December 2001. The December peak was 30,651 homes in 2006. This was the 21st straight month that single-family inventory has gone down compared to the year before.
The condominium market saw December inventory decrease by 16 percent from last year (10,620 listings in 2008 to 8,942 listings in 2009), which translates into 5.6 months of supply, which is down from 11.3 months in December 2008 and down from 6.5 months this past November.
This also was the 21th straight month that condo inventory has gone down compared to the year before.
Unless substantially more homes hit the market over the next three or four weeks, multiply-offer situations on decent properties will be common as the
April 30, 2010 home buyer tax credit deadline approaches.
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