Would-be home buyers didn’t find much to choose from in January. Only 6,049 homes were available in the DC area on January 31, compared to 10,095 one year prior. Baltimore-area inventory was down to 9,386 from 12,191 last January.

January’s inventory was the smallest the region has seen since 2005. Back then, before the housing market became troubled, there was even less inventory. Eager buyers snatched up homes as they came on the market. The inventory couldn’t grow. Oh how quickly things can change.

You can see in the chart below that the inventory of unsold homes in the DC area tripled from January 2005 to January 2006. It nearly doubled in the Baltimore area. Inventory continued to rise until 2008 because listings were increasing while sales were falling. 

Townhomes lead the way; Despite strong sales, prices are flat and decline in many areas

OVERVIEW

The supply of active listings in the Baltimore Metro Area housing market continues to shrink, and is at the lowest January-level in eight years.  However, the pattern appears to be changing slowly with new listings, which had the highest year-over-year gain since Spring 2011.  New listings are also up across all property segments, which has not occurred in over 2 years.  Even with the shifting pattern in new listings, the overall inventory still remains low.  There are a wide range of factors that could be keeping sellers from listing their properties.  Many could not have enough equity at current prices to “trade up” into a larger unit.  Others may have trouble finding a unit to begin with because the inventory is so low.  Economic uncertainty also remains a key issue on the table for many.