Dive Brief:
- The residential housing market saw little change in October, other than the standard seasonal decline in demand and inventory — a stability that was a relief from sales declines in August and September, Realtor.com reported.
- Jonathan Smoke, chief economist of Realtor.com, said housing inventory metrics are relatively stable and include a 6% increase over last year. In addition, the median list price held steady between September and October, at $232,000.
- Total listings still declined in October, and Smoke said he expects listing inventory to be down 2% from September once the analysis of October numbers is complete. The median age of inventory was virtually unchanged, up one day from September to 81 days but down three days, or 7%, from the same month last year.
Dive Insight:
"It was a rather ordinary month for the residential housing market in October," Realtor.com noted. "But after we saw sales declines in both August and September, we don’t see any reason to complain. Yes, boring can be good."
Realtor.com also created a list of its 20 hottest housing markets during October based on listing views by market as an indicator of buyer demand and median days on market as an indicator of supply.
The top housing markets in October were: Denver; San Jose, CA; San Francisco; Dallas; Vallejo, CA, and San Diego, CA. The markets that gained the most relative strength last month were Los Angeles, San Jose, and Denver, while Boulder and Fort Wayne broke into the top 20 list.
Overall, the real estate site found that, as expected, the market is slowing down toward the end of the year, but "the inventory metrics speak to a stable and strong housing market."