Austin Klar compares national housing inventory, which is growing and easing price pressure, to the Bay Area where it's shrinking. San Francisco inventory sits at historic lows and is declining into summer. Marin's inventory is also trending downward, keeping competition fierce and prices elevated.
The Bay Area housing market is bucking national trends, and unfortunately for Bay Area homebuyers, it means we're still a ways away from the necessary supply levels to reach a balanced market. As you can see at the top graph, which shows the national active listings over the past 6.5 years, we're seeing inventory growth from the historic pandemic lows, which means more optionality and less severe price growth. But as you can see in the bottom two graphs, which show single-family home inventory in both Marin and San Francisco, we're seeing the opposite trend. In San Francisco, inventory is still trending at historic lows and it's heading down into the summer instead of up like it is in the national level. And in Marin, while we have more inventory than the historic pandemic lows, so inventory is rising, the trend is actually going down into the summer instead of up like it is on the national level. These inventory constraints are what's keeping competition stiff and prices elevated in the area. We need these constraints to ease if we want to reach a more balanced market. Follow me for more Bay Area real estate.
