In a move which shouldn’t catch any plugged-in reads by surprise, the number of homes on the market in San Francisco, net of all new sales and contract activity, both pending and closed, dropped 7 percent over the past week, driven by a seasonal slowdown in new listing activity.
And as such, overall inventory levels are now down 16.4 percent since hitting a two-decade high last month.
That being said, inventory levels are now 125 percent higher than they were at the same time last year and climbing, versus 95 percent higher on a year-over-year basis when inventory levels peaked last month, with the number of condos on the market, which remains a leading indicator for the market as a whole, now up over 150 percent, year-over-year, and the number of single-family homes on the market now up 60 percent, year-over-year (versus closer to 40 percent when inventory levels peaked).
Expect local inventory levels to continue to drop, at least in the absolute, through the end of the year, and reductions to rise, before climbing again in January.
We’ll keep you posted and plugged-in.
Interesting contrast with the national situation, in which the supply of homes for sale has fallen to an all-time low.
As we noted last week (and months before), “with the rate of sales (demand) continuing to outpace the rate of new listings (supply), listed inventory levels [across the US] slipped another 2.7 percent to 1.42 million homes, which is down 19.8 percent on a year over year basis versus 115 percent higher in San Francisco” (which has since ticked up to 125 percent higher in San Francisco).
UPDATE: As expected, Highest Share of Reduced Listings in S.F. Since Late 2011.