All right – something we haven’t seen in a long time – since January 2006, to be exact – is our inventory of homes for sale dropping below the 200 mark. In our week in review last Saturday there were 197 homes listed in the Cape market, which includes the C-30 corridor and Indian Pass. The first time the inventory hit triple digits was all the way back in April 2005, when there were 112 for sale. This was when it became clear the market had peaked and the cycle was reversing. It eventually peaked at 288 in May of 2006.
To understand just how much it slowed, and how quickly, consider that the average monthly inventory in 2004 was 46, but by 2005 had more than tripled to 146! By comparison, the rate for 2006 was higher still at 249 and, an encouraging sign, year-to-date current monthly average is back down to 233. Today’s level of 197 is 32% below the May 2006 peak of 288.
We’ll continue to keep an eye on this indicator to see if we can locate when we turn, or if we have already turned, this market around.