Housing Supply Shortage Could Continue Through Spring

The headache of finding a home for the right price could move well through spring for prospective homebuyers. This is according to recent findings in a HouseCanary report that suggests the current housing supply shortage is likely to trend through the beginning of buying season. 

HousingCanary's latest Market Pulse report, which covers listing-derived metrics and compared data between Dec. 2020 and Dec. 2021, reported that new listing volume fell 10.6% year-over-year. Additionally, median single-family listing prices receded by 2.2%, however, median single-family contract prices rose for a third consecutive month. The report also forecasted a 10-12% increase in single-family detached prices over the next 12 months. 

“In 2021, the housing market drew plenty of headlines as a shrinking supply of homes available for rent and purchase caused properties to fly off the market at all-time high prices across the U.S. Toward the end of the year, the median listing and closed prices of properties in the U.S. began to deviate from each other, reflecting the significant leverage sellers often have in today's sparse market,” said Jeremy Sicklick, co-founder and CEO of HouseCanary. “As we kick off 2022 with a significant COVID-19 resurgence, we can expect the nationwide shortage of homes for sale to persist well into the spring, driving home prices even higher. Given that the U.S. remains in a low inventory environment with inflation rates at their steepest in 40 years, it's very likely this year will bring another double-digit increase in national home prices, with our models forecasting price growth in the 10-12% range.”

According to the report, for the month of December, there were 238,594 listings that went under contract nationwide, which is a 1.1% increase year-over-year.