Tag Archives: Demand

Housing demand is starting to cool off, due largely to low inventory and rising prices. The Oakland, California, market was hit particularly hard in terms of demand for March. Demand hit a record high in January.

Zillow will release its Real Estate Markets Report for March 2017. The report covers several data points, including demand, home prices, inventory, and sales numbers. One thing to keep an eye out for in March is inventory levels. The previous report, from February 2017, showed declining inventory overall, a problem further developed by high demand.

The Demand index, based on Redfin customer requests for home tours and writing offers, shows that buyers requesting tours were down 8.2 percent while buyers requesting writing offers were down 7.7 percent month-over-month. Redfin blames the slight reduction in demand on the small inventory.

Single-family housing inventory has been tight for many months, and it’s having an adverse effect on the housing market.

With fewer homes for sale on the market over the past year, housing demand had no choice but to follow suit and take a tumble as well, according to Redfin's Housing Demand Index.

The continuous imbalance of extremely low inventory levels and soaring demand is creating a gap in the housing market. Existing-home sales have been in limbo since the start of the year mostly due to the lack of available housing options in market. Where will they fall this week?

While home prices are still rising due to buyer demand and low inventories, supported by low mortgage rates, eased lending standards, and improving job markets, they are doing so at a much slower pace.

Low supply levels and increasing demand in the housing market are fueling home prices, in turn, placing all of the cards into sellers' hands.

"Many markets have experienced a low inventory of homes for sale along with strong buyer demand, which is sustaining upward pressure on home prices. These conditions are likely to persist as we enter 2016,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic.

With the fall season well underway, the housing market is showing signs of slowing down with declines in demand and inventory.