Tight Inventory?

Jim's Take on the Market | Market Buzz | Market Conditions | North County Coastal

Written by Jim the Realtor

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August 20, 2020

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We hear the term, ‘tight inventory’. What does it mean?

Fewer homes for sale?

Fewer of the lower-priced homes for sale?

Homes selling faster?

The best buys are flying off the market in the first day or two?

NSDCC detached-home statistics for Jan 1st – Aug 15th:

Year	# of Listings	Median LP	# of Sales	Median SP	Avg DOM	Median DOM
2016	3,727	$1,399,000	1,912	$1,150,000	43	22
2017	3,349	$1,425,000	1,994	$1,229,500	45	19
2018	3,390	$1,497,500	1,819	$1,320,000	40	18
2019	3,411	$1,550,000	1,789	$1,300,000	43	22
2020	2,991	$1,659,000	1,643	$1,400,000	41	18
20vs19	-12%	+7%	-8%	+8%	-5%	-18%

The average and median Days-On-Market metrics are within the normal range, so generally-speaking, homes aren’t selling faster than before.

We’ve had fewer homes for sale (-12% YoY), but sales are only down 8% which isn’t bad. The drop in sales between 2017 and 2018 was slightly more at 9% so we’ve endured this previously.

The overall volume is only down 0.4% YoY ($3,000,850,233 vs $2,988,471,818) – so those on commission (realtors, lenders, escrow, and title) shouldn’t be too concerned with ‘tight inventory’.

Who should be concerned?

Buyers on the lower-end of every market.

We have eleven NSDCC houses for sale priced under $900,000 (in an area of 300,000 people):