11 May 2017

Housing Supply Update: Hard to Keep Up with the Demand

December is the holiday season for many people who take time off from work, travel and spend time with family. For many business, it’s the slow time of the year. However, with interest rates rising, home buyers this past December were in a hurry to lock in a mortgage rate. The housing market became so tight in December 2016 that the months of supply fell to 4.1 months, the lowest for a December since 2000. That means that it would only take four months to sell all the existing houses listed for sale at the December sales pace. The December 2016 supply was about one quarter of the peak level of 16.2 months in January 2008, but higher than the trough of 3.5 months in June 2000.