Realtor.com has good news for prospective homebuyers: there were 14.8% more homes for sale on a typical day in February than there were in the same month last year.
February was the fourth consecutive month with annual inventory growth, according to Realtor.com’s records. Active listings remain 39.7% below where they were in February 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. But with lack of affordability still posing a challenge for many, any sustained improvement on the inventory front is music to the ears of potential buyers.
“The first couple of months of 2024 have proven to be positive for inventory levels, as the number of homes actively for sale was at its highest level since 2020,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist of Realtor.com. “While the country is still well below pre-pandemic levels, the South is leading the charge, moving faster than other parts of the country, largely driving the increase in availability of homes priced between $200,000 and $350,000, a price category that saw the most year-over-year growth nationally.”
Inventory within that price tier grew by 20.6% year over year — fastest of any price tier over the past 12 months — offering further hope for would-be homebuyers looking for a bargain property heading into the spring purchase season. Much of that affordable inventory growth, as Hale mentioned, is occurring in the South, which boasts the three large metros with the largest total inventory gains year over year: Orlando (where inventory across all price tiers is up 38.5% from February 2023), Miami (37.4%) and Tampa (36.3%).
Notably, three other metros in the South actually had higher levels of inventory in February than they typically did from 2017 to 2019: San Antonio (up 26.6%), Austin (10.8%) and Dallas (2.2%).
Also of note from Realtor.com’s recent report: The share of homes with price reductions has grown to 14.6% this year from 13.2% in February 2023. It’s the first time since May that the share of properties with price reductions has increased over the prior year.
