Housing inventory in Virginia is down 44% compared to a year ago.
Across Virginia and the nation, real estate experts are singing the same tune: We’re facing a major housing inventory shortage that shows no signs of letting up soon.
“Inventory is down about 44% compared to a year ago and it’s about a third of what it was five years ago,” says Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist for Virginia Realtors, adding that she’s heard of numerous cases of Virginian homeowners receiving offers on the first day that they put their homes on the market.
While housing inventory has been on the decline for at least the last five years, real estate experts say the current draught has reached an unprecedented level. Where Virginia once saw five or six months’ worth of housing supply — a measure that imagines how long it would take to sell the current inventory of houses if all indicators remained constant and no new houses were put on the market — the real estate industry is now counting housing supply in terms of weeks. As of this February, Virginia had 1.3 months of supply.
