A hat tip to Inman News Service for pointing out this tidbit: Corzen, a New York-based research firm reported today that the number of existing homes listed for sale online in the largest 100 metro areas in the United States was 2.3 million in May 2006, up 60 percent from 1.3 million in May 2005.
“We do see significant decline in asking prices in certain counties, where the volume of available properties online has increased as much 400 percent,” Charles Thibault, a Corzen Market Analyst, who conducted the detailed county-by-county analysis, was quoted in a press release as saying. “However, 75 percent of the counties in Corzen’s sample showed no change or increases in prices, suggesting that asking prices in overall market are not in a downward cycle – yet.”
The research was based on a ZIP code-by-ZIP code analysis of homes listed on realtor.com. Every month, the company gathers data on every home listed for sale on the Web site. It then consolidates this data and reports on trends in the real estate market.
The national rise in inventory mirrors the inventory levels in San Diego County, where the number of homes for sale hit a new record today of 21,751.