The number of homes on the market is at a 20-year low as the appeal of McMansions wanes and Baby Boomers grow increasingly reluctant to trade up or down from their current homes, according to a survey by the National Association of Realtors.
USA Today reports that more than half of the survey’s respondents, 59%, say they are not planning to sell their houses in the next year. Nationally, there was a 4.3-month supply of homes on the market in June—the time it would take to run out of homes for sale if no new units were added—down from 4.6 months a year ago, NAR says. In Baton Rouge, the months supply figure was even lower in June, at 3.4, according to the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors.
The crunch has driven up home prices. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller national home price index was up 5.6% in May from a year earlier, hitting an all-time high. Some markets are frothier, with average home prices 13.3% in Seattle and 7.9% in Dallas.
