"For Sale" signs may seem like an eyesore to neighbors on any given local street, but the lack of them is a much bigger problem.
Just 1.82 million homes were listed for sale in December, according to the National Association of Realtors. That is a 22 percent drop from a year ago and the lowest supply since May of 2005, when words like "boom" and "bubble" followed the word "housing." At the current sales pace it would take just 4.4 months to sell those homes.
"The greatest concern in the market is the inventory situation," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR. "Even if we see an increase in the Spring and Summer, if home sales hold at the [current] level or even a 5 to 6-month supply, price increases are guaranteed. We don't want to see rapid appreciation in prices faster than income."
The reasons for the low supply are varied, and the low numbers are in fact feeding on themselves. If