SANTA CLARA, Calif.,
Sept. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/
-- Realtor.com®, The Home of Home
Search™, today released its August 2019 housing trend report, which
registered the first U.S. inventory decline in a year. Conversely,
August data also shows an earlier than usual seasonal slowdown in
the national median listing price as consumers react to news of
economic uncertainty.
"The state of the housing market as we head into the latter half
of 2019 is a tug of war between increased affordability and
economic anxiety. We're starting to see this tension play out in
our August data," said George Ratiu,
senior economist for realtor.com®. "On the one hand,
lower interest rates have given buyers more purchasing power, which
is contributing to August's decline in national inventory. However,
concerns over trade wars and cutbacks in corporate spending are
causing some buyers to postpone their search. This is contributing
to both the slow down in prices, as well as the inventory decline,
as buyers stay put in their current homes."
Earlier this spring, realtor.com® predicted U.S.
inventory would decline in fall 2019. As lower than expected
mortgage rates combined with rising wages, buyers snapped up
existing homes and prompted an early arrival in August of a 1.8
percent decline.
The U.S. median listing price in August was $309,000, still 4.9 percent higher than a year
ago, but 1.8 percent lower than July -- the largest drop from July
to August since 2012. Typically, home prices increase from June
until September. Although July to August declines do occur, the
size of this drop points to an earlier than usual deceleration of
prices, likely attributed to recent concerns over economic
uncertainty.
This data is consistent with the findings of
realtor.com®'s August 2019
home shopper survey, which showed that 11 percent of buyers expect
a recession by the end of this year, and 33 percent expect one in
2020. If a recession does hit, 56 percent of home shoppers stated
that they would pause their home search until the economy
recovered.
According to Ratiu: "These strong but opposing forces make it
more difficult to predict what will happen in the second half of
this year. If the headwinds of economic uncertainty intensify, it
could prompt a decrease in buyer demand and shift housing
inventory's current trajectory. But if increased purchasing power
prevails, we could see even more inventory declines and intensified
competition between buyers."
The median age of U.S. inventory in August reached 62 days. The
typical property spent three days longer on the market compared to
last August and four days longer than July
2019.
For more information on realtor.com®'s August monthly
data report, please visit:
https://www.realtor.com/research/august-2019-data/
About realtor.com®
Realtor.com®,
The Home of Home Search℠, offers the most MLS-listed for-sale
listings among national real estate portals, and access to
information, tools and professional expertise that help people move
confidently through every step of their home journey. Through its
Opcity platform, realtor.com® uses data science and
machine learning to connect consumers with a real estate
professional based on their specific buying and selling needs.
Realtor.com® pioneered the world of digital real estate
20 years ago, and today is a trusted resource for home buyers,
sellers and dreamers by making all things home simple, efficient
and enjoyable. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp
[Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. under a
perpetual license from the National Association of
REALTORS®. For more information, visit
realtor.com®.
Media Contact:
Lexie Puckett
Holbert
lexie.puckett@move.com
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SOURCE realtor.com