Presently, there is an 8 month supply of homes that are for sale. That means that at the current rate of sales, it would be eight months to sell off the accumulation.
While that is still a lot of homes on the market in comparison to the usual 6 month supply in normal times, it is a lot better than it was. As of this past March, there were almost 2 percent fewer homes available than there were in March of 2009, and nearly 22 percent fewer than the high point of 4.5 million in July of last year.
Nearly all California areas have a small inventory of single family homes, particularly those in the lower price ranges. The inventory of homes that are priced at $300,000 or less is at 3.2 months throughout the state, which is even lower than the 3.3 month supply of March a year ago.
The inventory of mid-priced homes, those priced from $300,000 to $500,000 dropped to 4.2 months this past March from 4.5 months in March of the preceding year.
There is an abundance of higher priced homes throughout the state, although the existing inventory is rapidly diminishing, dropping from 21.6 months to just 10.9 months.
As inventories drop, prices increase, and as prices increase, it is possible that inventories may increase as well. This may not be great news for sellers, but it would be an opportunity for buyers to buy less in haste and not to be overly concerned about getting priced out of the market.
