After looking at the most recent existing home sales from the National Association of Realtors, I noticed they said the supply had jumped by about 400,000 homes in April over March. This lead to my curiosity of exactly where we are in relation to what’s considered a “normal” supply of real estate inventory.

Here’s what I came up with:

As you can see, inventories are on the rise.  In fact, current inventory is 40% higher then what’s considered normal and this excludes the shadow inventory (homes 90-days delinquent or worse, not yet on the market).

This data reinforces the idea that we are at or near the bottom yet we’ll be here for a while.  Plan your buying strategy around a methodical and consistent approach to purchasing right now, much like dollar-cost-averaging in the stock market.

- Ryan Hinricher, Housing Analyst

Tags: chart, excess inventory, Housing Market, housing supply, months of supply