What months of housing supply means
THE HOME GUIDE · 19
What months of housing supply means
The number of homes for sale matters. So does how quickly people are buying them.
ABOUT 3 MINUTES TO READ
A QUICK LOOK · THREE THINGS TO KNOW
01 / START HERE
Count homes for sale
Start with how many homes are listed.
02 / START HERE
Try the simple math
If 40 homes are for sale and about 10 sell each month, that is four months of supply.
03 / START HERE
Look at your kind of home
The town may have many condos but few houses.
You may hear that a town has three or four months of homes for sale. That sounds odd at first. It is a way to compare homes for sale with how fast homes are selling.
PART 01
Count homes for sale
Start with how many homes are listed. Then look at how many sell in a month. Both numbers help tell the story of how much choice buyers have.
PART 02
Try the simple math
If 40 homes are for sale and about 10 sell each month, that is four months of supply. It is a guide, not a clock.
PART 03
Look at your kind of home
The town may have many condos but few houses. A city-wide number may not fit the type of home you want.
A SMALL STEP YOU CAN TAKE
One thing to check today
Compare homes for sale and homes sold in the same area and home type.
HOW TO USE THIS
If you are buying or selling
If you are buying
Check supply for the kind of home you hope to buy.
If you are selling
Use local supply to set a plan, not just a city-wide label.
SAVE THIS LIST
Three questions worth asking
- What inventory and sales period are being used?
- How does MOI compare with several earlier periods?
- What does the directly competing inventory look like?
SOURCE AND FURTHER READING
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