The typical home for sale was on the market just 20 days in February, according to new data released by the National Association of Realtors. That's a record low and down from 36 days last year at the same time.
But while elevated demand from buyers plays a role, too few homes for sale is the chief reason homes are selling so quickly. The NAR's report shows that – while the number of homes for sale did improve month-over-month – nationally, it's down nearly 30 percent from where it was one year ago. According to Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, low inventory is also contributing to declining home sales.
In fact, February sales of existing homes fell 6.6 percent from January. “Despite the drop in home sales for February – which I would attribute to historically low inventory – the market is still outperforming pre-pandemic levels,” Yun said.
It's true. Despite slowing in February, sales are still 9.1 percent higher than last year. And with expectations that both inventory and the economy will improve as the year goes on, there's hope that home sales and listings will too.
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