Housing Inventories Up 3% in January While Price Reductions Decline

Housing inventories in the 27 major metropolitan areas covered by ZipRealty rose only 2.87 percent in January, compared to December. Just over 40 percent of available homes for sale had reduced prices in January, compared with 44 percent in December.

With fewer reduced price homes available in January, sellers were able to ask for their original list prices, rather than cut them to attract buyers. Inventories in January usually rise sharply in anticipation of the spring selling season. Analysts attribute this year’s situation on the unusually cold weather. Many sellers are also keeping properties off the market, waiting for a better economy.
 
Highlights of ZipRealty’s monthly survey include:

• January was the fifth consecutive month of fewer priced reduced homes on the market, with sellers reducing list prices by $21,925 on average across 27 markets
• Homeowners in San Diego reduced prices by the highest dollar amount, cutting an average of $44
• Homeowners in Houston reduced prices by the lowest dollar amount, cutting an average of $10,000
• Markets with the lowest percentage of price-reduced MLS-listed homes were Los Angeles and San Diego (both at 32.6 percent), San Francisco (31.9 percent), and Denver (29.5 percent)

One out of every two home listings in Jacksonville (49.9 percent) and Phoenix (48.8 percent) had cut their list prices, the highest percentage in the survey