January 08 2021
Buyers and sellers remained active throughout holiday season, draining inventory while driving price growth and quick sales
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 7, 2021 -- The number of homes for sale in the U.S. reached an all-time low in December, dipping below 700,000 for the first time as buyers remained active throughout the holiday season, according to realtor.com's Monthly Housing Trends Report released today. Due to unusually strong demand, home prices were up double digits compared to last year, however, the median listing price came down to $340,000 from a summer high of $350,000.
"The shortage of homes for sale has been an ongoing issue for the last couple of years, but in December the combination of the holiday inventory slowdown and the pandemic buying trend caused it to dip to its lowest level in history," said realtor.com® Chief Economist, Danielle Hale. "Looking forward, we could see new lows in the next couple of months as buyers remain relatively active, but a surge of new COVID cases may slow the number of sellers entering the market. Newly listed properties have shown mixed trends. While December's data points to possible relief on the horizon, this figure has been impacted the most in areas with large COVID surges, and consistent improvement will be key in order to get out of this extreme shortage. We eventually expect to see improvements in the supply of homes for sale, especially in the second half of the year. Until then, finding a home will continue to be a top challenge for buyers across all price ranges."
*Some data for Pittsburgh has been excluded due to data quality.
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