I came across this note and wanted to highlight two important points. First is on housing inventory, or the number of homes for sale on the market. This is an indicator you want to keep your eye on over the next few months. This number has increased dramatically with the housing and economic slowdown and will be one of the indicators that signals strength coming back into the housing market. This note mentions the number of homes on the market decreased in September. While that is a good sign, we need a few months of continued contraction in that number before it becomes meaningful.
Secondly, I wanted to highlight Barclays Capital’s estimate of 811,000 bank-owned homes on the market. These banks have to do something with these properties and it has created a great place to be searching for and sourcing deals.
Housing Inventory Tightens in September
The number of homes for sale in the 28 markets tracked by online real estate company ZipRealty fell 1.6 percent in September.
Overall, the September inventory is down 7 percent from a year ago in the Zip Realty-tracked metro markets. Zip’s accounting includes only homes listed in multiple-listing services and many foreclosed homes aren’t included in those databases.
Barclays Capital estimates there are 811,000 bank-owned homes in the U.S., up from 129,000 two years ago, and predicts that the total will rise 60 percent before peaking late next year.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, James R. Hagerty (10/09/2008)
Posted by Carter Brown
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