No Cheap Inventory. Sales Falter

[Terrel L. Shields]

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/21/homeownership-is-increasingly-for-the-wealthy.html

The sharp drop in January home sales was not due to a shortage of homes for sale. It was due to a shortage of affordable homes for sale.​

To paraphase, "the price is too da*ned high". Builders are buying expensive land and building big expensive homes but the market wants cheaper smaller homes.

 

[Joe Flacco]

There is no answer for affordable homes in good locations. You can only get affordability by sacrificing location. Gotta go where land is cheaper.

 

[Joe Flacco]

Where all the affordable older homes went is private equity bought them all up in foreclosure and turned them into rentals.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Reminds me of the run up to the 2008 housing crash. People who bought at the peak and needed to sell, couldn't. Defaults were rising. When the stock market crashed, that was the start of big layoffs.

 

[Joe Flacco]

Personally, I think the housing bubble and crash was 80% result of the no doc loans. We do not have that anymore. I really see no reason for any concern with housing as of today.

 

[Joe Flacco]

Stated income and stated assets at 100% financing is just a insane thing to do and that's what they did.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

It appears that home prices are reaching a peak price which is not sustainable since wages have not kept up.

 

[timd354]

There is no answer for affordable homes in good locations. You can only get affordability by sacrificing location. Gotta go where land is cheaper.

Part of the problem is that land use restrictions have artificially severely reduced the amount of available land for development in many jurisdictions, creating a shortage and severely driving up the price of housing in those jurisdictions. This problem is particularly acute in some areas of California, but is also a big issue in many other areas (such as Montgomery County, MD where you live).

 

[Mr Rex]

I am in an area of 0% population growth, if not negative. So if someone can explain the lack of inventory and under 30 days DOM I'm all ears. I thought millions of Hispanics fled to their homes of origin which would logically create a large vacancy issue and we have a substantial Hispanic population. There are no new jobs or industry locally but there are no available houses, new or existing and new construction has returned after several years of little to none. Negative population growth and inventory shortages and under 30 DOM after years of unsustainibly low interest rates. What Happened/changed? Trump? Bueller?

 

[Renee Healion]

The low inventory situation here would be even more strained if the prospective buyers were all competing effectively. Quite a few listings under contract are returned to market because the buyer's financing falls through and they cannot perform.