The National Observer | Real Estate Edition | Sept. 23 | Housing inventory likely to remain stymied

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An inventory shortage — at all price points, but especially on the affordable end — has been cited as a key reason for the growing inaccessibility of the national housing market in the past few years. That, plus sheer demand from (especially) millennials buying their first home.

But with a quickly cooling market, and less competition, it's undoubtedly gotten easier for buyers to negotiate ... although not necessarily because there's more inventory. 

By the numbers: Nationally, there were 1.3 million for-sale listings across housing markets tracked by Zillow Group Inc. in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, which was a 9.2% decrease from the year prior. One year later, in March 2021, the number of for-sale listings plummeted 35%, to 866,403. They declined another 25.4%, to 653,862, in March 2022.

Because so many owners secured record-low interest rates during the pandemic (rates that certainly aren't coming back anytime soon), it's likely more of those households will stay in place, economists say. That could keep housing inventory hamstrung for the next three to eight years.

Also: Western U.S. markets continue to see the fastest cooldown, including more meaningful median sales price drops.

Here are other top real estate stories from around the ACBJ network:

1. There could be a 15% to 20% decline in office-building transactions over the next six months, thanks to rising interest rates, according to an economist with Avison Young.
2. Recently passed condo laws in Florida are already spurring redevelopment opportunities along the state's coastline as condo associations grapple with new (costly) requirements.
3. A Scottsdale, Arizona-based REIT will be acquired by two firms in an all-cash deal valued around $14 billion.
4. Mailchimp employees will soon begin moving in to a new headquarters in Atlanta. What the new office space says about how companies are making office-space decisions since the pandemic. Also: Why hybrid-work models could threaten office markets already facing elevated vacancy.
5. Why more buildings in Boston are going all-electric, and how four developers retrofitted existing buildings to use less energy or are building new structures without any reliance on gas.
6. A mixed-use project with a billion-dollar price tag in Raleigh, North Carolina, has finally broken ground after years of planning.
7. Real estate technology company Compass Inc. is going through another round of layoffs after cutting 10% of its workforce in June.
8. Pricing climate risk into a real estate portfolio continues to be a challenge for the industry, although some level of standardization may be on the horizon.

Built by Ashley Fahey, editor of The National Observer: Real Estate. Reach me with tips, questions and feedback at afahey@bizjournals.com