by Calculated Risk on 3/12/2024 12:47:00 PM

Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: 2nd Look at Local Housing Markets in February

A brief excerpt:

NOTE: The tables for active listings, new listings and closed sales all include a comparison to February 2019 for each local market (some 2019 data is not available).

This is the second look at several local markets in February. I’m tracking about 40 local housing markets in the US. Some of the 40 markets are states, and some are metropolitan areas. I’ll update these tables throughout the month as additional data is released.

Closed sales in February were mostly for contracts signed in December and January when 30-year mortgage rates averaged 6.82% and 6.64%, respectively. This is down from the 7%+ mortgage rates in the August through November period.
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Here is a summary of active listings for these early reporting housing markets in February.

Inventory for these markets were up 12.4% year-over-year in January and are now up 23.8% year-over-year. A key will be if inventory builds over the next few months. Yesterday, Mike Simonson, President of Altos Research wrote: “The market could peak at 40% inventory growth over last year.”

Special Note: Florida is overweighted in this early sample, and that has distorted the overall picture (since inventory is surging in Florida).

Inventory is down in most of these areas compared to 2019.
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Many more local markets to come!

There is much more in the article.