SEATTLE, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- After falling
for nearly four consecutive years, housing inventory has turned a
corner, growing on an annual basis in four of the past five months,
according to the January Zillow® Real Estate Market
Reporti. U.S. for-sale home inventory grew 1.2 percent
year-over-year. There were 19,455 more homes for sale nationwide in
January compared to a year earlier.
This was the first inventory gain in January since at least
2014ii. However, the slow pace of growth has thus far
done little to reverse the long contraction in inventory that took
place from January 2015 to
August 2018. In July 2017, inventory was falling at its fastest
pace since 2014 of 12.8 percent year-over-year.
Inventory has increased the most in five West Coast markets that
were recently among the nation's hottest, giving home shoppers more
options and ever-so-slowly tilting the market toward buyers. On an
annual basis, inventory grew 42.9 percent in San Jose, Calif., 36.9 percent in Seattle, 31.9 percent in San Diego, 29.1 percent in Los Angeles and 25 percent in San Francisco.
While the number of homes for sale grew in about three-quarters
of the country's largest housing markets, a few East Coast markets
saw big drops. Inventory in Washington
D.C., Baltimore and
Pittsburgh all fell at least 10
percent. Inventory fell 19.9 percent in Washington D.C. This is the third straight
month of annual declines of at least 14 percent following Amazon's
announcement in November that it would site a new headquarters
there.
"For four years, it felt like home buyers couldn't catch a break
as for-sale inventory became tighter and tighter with each passing
month," said Zillow senior economist Aaron
Terrazas. "But during the second half of 2018, something
shifted. Home buyers aren't out of the woods yet, but there is a
glimmer of light on the horizon. The number of homes on the market
is hesitantly inching higher – now approaching the highest level in
a year and a half. In the priciest markets, the jump has been even
more definitive. But buyers should not mistake a few more options
for a sudden bounty. With home values still increasing at a steady
clip, it's clear that demand still outstrips supply, and with
mortgage rates down from recent highs, the first quarter of 2019 is
shaping up to be more competitive than the lull we saw as 2018 came
to a close."
The median U.S. home value is $225,300, a 7.5 percent year-over-year increase.
Home value growth has remained at a steady pace in the seven
percent range over the past two years though the national numbers
obscure substantial differences across the country. Indianapolis and Atlanta experienced the biggest jumps over the
past year, with home values increasing by more than 12 percent in
both metros.
Rents grew on an annual basis for the third straight month
following two months of annual declines, up 2.1 percent over a year
ago to a median of $1,468. This was
the largest increase in annual rents since May 2018. Rent increased or remained flat in all
major metros, with Orlando (up 7.4
percent) experiencing the biggest increase. On the other end of the
spectrum, rents were flat in Portland over the past year.
Mortgage rates listed on Zillow ended January at 4.14 percent,
the lowest rate of the month. Rates started the month on
January 1 at their highest point, 4.3
percent. By the end of January, mortgage rates had retreated 61
basis points from their November 2018
peak. Zillow's real-time mortgage rates are based on thousands of
custom mortgage quotes submitted daily to anonymous borrowers on
the Zillow Mortgages site and reflect the most recent changes in
the market.
Metropolitan
Area
|
Zillow
Home
Value
Index,
January
2019
|
ZHVI
Year-
over-
Year
Change
|
Zillow
Rent
Index,
January
2019
|
ZRI
Year-
over-
Year
Change
|
Inventory
Year-
over-
Year
Change
|
United
States
|
$225,300
|
7.5%
|
$1,468
|
2.1%
|
1.2%
|
New York,
NY
|
$438,300
|
4.9%
|
$2,416
|
0.6%
|
5.5%
|
Los Angeles-Long
Beach-Anaheim, CA
|
$652,300
|
3.3%
|
$2,827
|
3.3%
|
29.1%
|
Chicago,
IL
|
$224,800
|
4.1%
|
$1,687
|
2.5%
|
2.2%
|
Dallas-Fort Worth,
TX
|
$242,600
|
10.9%
|
$1,638
|
2.4%
|
15.5%
|
Philadelphia,
PA
|
$232,700
|
3.5%
|
$1,602
|
1.7%
|
-6.3%
|
Houston,
TX
|
$205,500
|
6.8%
|
$1,581
|
2.1%
|
8.0%
|
Washington,
DC
|
$406,200
|
3.4%
|
$2,168
|
1.4%
|
-19.9%
|
Miami-Fort
Lauderdale, FL
|
$283,800
|
7.5%
|
$1,910
|
2.6%
|
8.1%
|
Atlanta,
GA
|
$217,500
|
12.2%
|
$1,439
|
3.5%
|
2.5%
|
Boston, MA
|
$467,000
|
6.0%
|
$2,390
|
1.4%
|
13.7%
|
San Francisco,
CA
|
$957,400
|
5.1%
|
$3,444
|
1.3%
|
25.0%
|
Detroit,
MI
|
$160,000
|
8.4%
|
$1,224
|
2.1%
|
13.7%
|
Riverside,
CA
|
$367,100
|
5.7%
|
$1,972
|
6.1%
|
15.6%
|
Phoenix,
AZ
|
$264,900
|
7.4%
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
-1.6%
|
Seattle,
WA
|
$489,700
|
3.8%
|
$2,230
|
1.5%
|
36.9%
|
Minneapolis-St Paul,
MN
|
$268,100
|
6.3%
|
$1,694
|
4.0%
|
0.2%
|
San Diego,
CA
|
$591,400
|
3.4%
|
$2,634
|
3.8%
|
31.9%
|
St. Louis,
MO
|
$167,000
|
6.0%
|
$1,152
|
1.1%
|
-5.8%
|
Tampa, FL
|
$213,600
|
9.4%
|
$1,431
|
5.4%
|
8.0%
|
Baltimore,
MD
|
$267,900
|
3.6%
|
$1,750
|
0.8%
|
-12.2%
|
Denver, CO
|
$405,300
|
5.1%
|
$2,101
|
3.1%
|
20.3%
|
Pittsburgh,
PA
|
$143,900
|
5.8%
|
$1,099
|
5.1%
|
-10.0%
|
Portland,
OR
|
$397,300
|
4.7%
|
$1,866
|
0.0%
|
16.8%
|
Charlotte,
NC
|
$206,200
|
10.3%
|
$1,334
|
3.2%
|
2.8%
|
Sacramento,
CA
|
$408,700
|
4.3%
|
$1,903
|
3.4%
|
17.3%
|
San Antonio,
TX
|
$192,800
|
7.1%
|
$1,359
|
1.3%
|
11.2%
|
Orlando,
FL
|
$237,100
|
9.5%
|
$1,517
|
7.4%
|
3.5%
|
Cincinnati,
OH
|
$168,900
|
8.4%
|
$1,302
|
2.1%
|
2.4%
|
Cleveland,
OH
|
$145,600
|
6.3%
|
$1,158
|
1.1%
|
N/A
|
Kansas City,
MO
|
$191,600
|
9.7%
|
$1,292
|
1.6%
|
-9.8%
|
Las Vegas,
NV
|
$277,900
|
11.2%
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
2.2%
|
Columbus,
OH
|
$189,900
|
7.3%
|
$1,356
|
3.3%
|
7.5%
|
Indianapolis,
IN
|
$163,900
|
12.6%
|
$1,231
|
2.0%
|
N/A
|
San Jose,
CA
|
$1,245,800
|
7.1%
|
$3,545
|
1.3%
|
42.9%
|
Austin, TX
|
$308,200
|
6.9%
|
$1,698
|
1.1%
|
5.0%
|
Zillow
Zillow is the leading real estate and rental marketplace dedicated
to empowering consumers with data, inspiration and knowledge around
the place they call home, and connecting them with great real
estate professionals. In addition, Zillow operates an
industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow
Group's Chief Economist Dr. Svenja
Gudell. Dr. Gudell and her team of economists and data
analysts produce extensive housing data and research covering more
than 450 markets at Zillow Real Estate Research. Zillow also
sponsors the quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, which
asks more than 100 leading economists, real estate experts and
investment and market strategists to predict the path of the Zillow
Home Value Index over the next five years. Launched in 2006, Zillow
is owned and operated by Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z and ZG), and
headquartered in Seattle.
Zillow is a registered trademark of Zillow, Inc.
i The Zillow Real Estate Market Reports are a monthly
overview of the national and local real estate markets. The reports
are compiled by Zillow Real Estate Research. For more information,
visit www.zillow.com/research/. The data in Zillow's Real Estate
Market Reports are aggregated from public sources by a number of
data providers for 928 metropolitan and micropolitan areas dating
back to 1996. Mortgage and home loan data are typically recorded in
each county and publicly available through a county recorder's
office. All current monthly data at the national, state, metro,
city, ZIP code and neighborhood level can be accessed at
www.zillow.com/research/data.
ii Zillow began tracking this data in January 2013.
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SOURCE Zillow