Inventory Numbers Starting to Settle

Being an old math instructor at the College of Charleston, I always pay close attention to the statistics of the real estate market. One reason that this real estate market seems slow is that the inventory, or amount of homes for sale, has drastically risen over the last 3 years. We now have 3 times the inventory that we had 3 years ago. That's what created the buyer's market. I have been watching this number very closely and am glad to report that the inventory seems to be settling out. We have not seen a significant rise in inventory this year. The hope would be that we can now start to see a decline in inventory numbers. Many factors should contribute to this including less building permits, more homes taken off the market and rented out, and most importantly, buyers recognizing what a great time it is to buy. For things to get back to normal, inventory must go down to more normal levels.