Housing inventory is at a historic low, with nearly 9 percent fewer homes on the market than last year, according to the latest report from Zillow. Over half of the homes available are on the expensive end of the market, and thus out of the price range of most first-time homebuyers — just 22 percent of homes on the market are classified as entry-level.
Home values across the country increased by 8 percent since last year, to a median of $213,146.
In Chicago, 55.3 percent of homes on the market were classified as high-end, while only 19.2 percent of homes on the market were entry-level.
“This year’s home-shopping season is shaping up to be even crazier than last, and sadly, the group that will have the hardest time is first-time and lower-income homebuyers,” said Svenja Gudell, chief economist at Zillow. “These buyers will be competing for the few entry-level homes on the market, which are also the ones appreciating the fastest because of extremely high demand.”
Other recent real estate news:
- The real estate tech company Compass has announced two new hires. Khurrum Malik will be joining the company as chief marketing officer, while Matt Rosenberg will be joining as chief revenue officer. In the last six months, Compass has opened offices across the country, including in Seattle, San Diego, Dallas and Chicago. Most recently, Compass announced the acquisition of Conlon Real Estate.
- After working for over a decade at CoreLogic, Sam Khater has been hired as vice president and chief economist for Freddie Mac. In his new position, Khater will lead company researchers in analysis of economic trends and policy impacting both the company and the housing market.
- Century 21 Real Estate LLC, along with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation and Miami Dade College, presented the 70 newly-licensed real estate agents put through the “Empowering Latinas” program. The program gave 70 scholarships to Latinas in Southern Florida to help them earn their real estate licenses, and the grantees were selected from over 140 applicants.