Housing inventory shortages already plagued 2016, and given that houses don’t crop up overnight, it’s not likely 2017 will be much better, as a new report from Pro Teck shows exactly how dry the housing market is.
To get a pulse of the market, Pro Teck tracks the Months of Remaining Inventory in communities it follows. Months of Remaining Inventory is defined as the current number of active listings divided by the monthly sales rate, combining both supply and demand into one number.
The chart below shows the changes of MRI from 2015 to 2016.
Click to enlarge
(Source: Pro Teck)
As an added note, a balanced market would have an MRI of around 6 months.
However, looking at the chart, communities with an MRI under 3 have jumped from 12.7% to 20.63% in a year, marking a 62.44% increase.
And on top of this, in December, 2014, this number was 9.17% — meaning there’s been a 125% increase in communities with a dramatic shortage of homes for sale in a two-year period.