Overview: Nationwide, inventory levels are starting to stabilize. After a 0.5 percent increase in listings during June, July’s inventory of 1,920,000 residential listings was equal to one year ago. This is significant because the National Association of REALTORS reported year-over-year inventory declines every month in 2018 with the exception of June and July. This recent shift suggests that nationwide inventory levels are starting to flatten out, causing price appreciation to cool off somewhat. Stay tuned to see if this national trend continues.
In Alabama, however, inventory shortages are the norm as residential listings decreased 11.9 percent from one year ago. Only two markets witnessed year-over-year inventory gains during July. Lee County led the way with a 14.2 percent increase in residential listings and the only other market to see rising inventory levels was the Lake Martin area with a 1.8 percent increase from July 2017. Inventory shortages were most extreme in the north Alabama region with Huntsville having only 2.3 months of supply (MoS) and the Decatur area with 2.8 MoS. These were the only markets across the state to have less than 3 months of supply during July. Other strong seller’s markets across the state include Athens (3.2 MoS) Lee County (3.2 MOS), Tuscaloosa (3.5 MOS), Mobile (3.7 MOS), and Marshall County (3.7 MoS). The statewide average during July was 4.2 months of supply, while it was 4.3 nationwide.
Inventory shortages played a major role in driving prices upwards during July. The statewide median sales price increased 5.6 percent from $160,279 to $169,178. The nationwide median sales price also saw growth but to a less degree as it increased 4.5 percent from $258,100 to $269,600. If Alabama’s residential markets continue to have inventory shortages as we enter the fall season, expect home price appreciation in the state to outpace the national average as nationwide inventory stabilized during June and July.
Significant Statistics from Alabama’s July Residential Sales
86 days
Average number of days on the market (DOM) statewide during July, lowest statewide average DOM in ACRE’s database which goes back to January 2000
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18.1 percent
Percentage growth of July residential sales (5,726) versus the 5-year average (4,848)
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$169,178
Median sales price of a home in Alabama during July, an increase of $8,899 (5.6 percent) from one year ago ($160,279)
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-11.9 Percent
Decrease in July residential listings statewide (24,273) versus one year ago (27,545)
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4.2 months
Statewide months of supply during July, down from 5.2 one year ago
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