Boston and the major Texas markets are still going through an inventory drought, but it’s in desert metros like Las Vegas, Mesa, and Phoenix where big increases in inventory seem to be more than a mirage. Total inventory was still well below where it was in April 2010 last month (102,241 properties compared to 171,837) but it continues to trend upward after the expected seasonal slump of late 2013.
At the same time, the median list price index is up both on a month-over-month and year-over-year basis. In April, the index stood at $193 per square foot, $16 or 8.8 percent higher than it was in April 2013. Compared to March, the index rose $7 or 3.8 percent. This was greater than the 2.2 percent increase seen between February and March of this year, and the 1.1 percent increase between January and February.
How This Report Is Made
When building Movoto’s monthly State of the Real Estate Market report, we look at 38 geographically diverse cities in order to determine total inventory levels and a median price per square foot index. In addition, we further break down this data on a month-over-month and year-over-year basis. The data used comes from each city’s Multiple Listing Service.
Median List Price Per Square Foot Index
Year-Over-Year
The median list price per square foot index rose 8.8 percent last month compared to April 2013. This was a difference of $16 per square foot on average across the 38 markets we studied. Of these, 33 saw year-over-year increases in the index, four saw decreases, and one was unchanged.
The three cities that saw the largest increase in median price per square foot index year-over-year were:
- Chicago, IL: The Windy City saw its median price per square foot climb from $142 in April 2013 to $186 last month, a difference of $44 or 31 percent.
- Houston, TX: The median list price per square foot in the heart of Texas went from $79 in April 2013 to $100 last month, an increase of $21 or 26.6 percent.
- San Francisco, CA: The City By the Bay witnessed an increase in its median list price per square foot of $130 last month compared to April 2013. This was a 20.1 percent increase.
Detroit, MI, Colorado Springs, CO, San Diego, CA, and Austin, TX all saw decreases in their year-over-year median list price per square foot of 15.4, 9.8, 1.8, and 1 percent, respectively. The median list price per square foot of $213 in Denver, CO was unchanged.
Month-Over-Month
The median list price per square foot index rose from $186 to $193 between March and April, a difference of $7 or 3.8 percent. During the same period last year, it rose from $177 to $179, a difference of $2 or 1.1 percent.
Embed Chart
Total Inventory Level
Year-Over-Year
Across the 38 markets we study for this report, total inventory was 102,241 last month, compared to 85,664 in April 2013. This was a difference of 16,577 homes or 19.4 percent. This is compared to the 37,984 homes lost between April 2012 and April 2013, a decrease of 30.7 percent.
The three cities that saw the largest increase in year-over-year inventory for February were:
- Las Vegas, NV: This metropolis in the Nevada desert saw inventory go from 2,990 in April 2013 to 5,995 last month, an increase of 3,005 homes or 100.5 percent.
- Mesa, AZ: A suburb of Phoenix, this city added 839 properties to its inventory last month for a total of 1,822. This was a difference of 85.3 percent from its April 2013 inventory of 984 homes.
- Phoenix, AZ: Arizona’s biggest city saw its inventory increase by 82.4 percent or 2,270 homes between April 2013 and last month, going from 2,754 to 5,023 properties.
For the second month running, Boston, MA lost significant inventory on a year-over-year basis. In April 2013 there were 991 homes on the market there; last month there were 801, a decrease of 190 or 19.2 percent. Arlington, TX and Dallas, TX also saw a significant drop in year-over-year inventory for April, to the tune of 16.8 and 16.6 percent, respectively.
Month Over Month
Total inventory was up last month to 102,142 from 97,866 in March, an increase of 4,276 or 4.4 percent. This was the first month-over-month increase in total inventory between March and April since 2011.
Embed Chart
Total inventory decreased by 2.8 percent between March and April of 2013, and by 1 percent during the same one-month period in 2012. Total inventory is still well below where it stood even this time two years ago, but should inventory continue to hit the market over the next few months as we anticipate, it should return to 2012 levels by the end of the year. This gradual increase should continue to chip away at the median list price per square foot index for the remainder of 2014.
