Buyers in some of the hottest housing markets may finally have an advantage over sellers as the U.S. housing market continues to cool.
Seattle, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and San Jose, California, reported the biggest gains in inventory in the first quarter, according to Bloomberg, citing Trulia data. In San Jose, inventory rose 55 percent year over year.
Inventory fell nationwide, but grew in over half of the country’s top 50 metros, including in Los Angeles, Denver and Nashville. Even though the number of homes jumped in San Jose during the first quarter, they were only on the market for an average of 57 days.
Meanwhile, the number of listings dropped in less expensive markets, led by Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Kansas City and Oklahoma City.
Buyers pulled away thanks in part to rising mortgage rates last year. Rates recently dropped, but inventory is still piling up.
“West Coast markets were getting slammed — affordability was slipping away from everybody,” Felipe Chacon, a housing economist for Trulia, told Bloomberg. “Now it’s showing signs of shifting back the other way, in favor of buyers.”
Interest rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage loans could stay down for months or even longer if global economic growth remains slow. [Bloomberg] — Katherine Kallergis