In December 2019, real-estate listing platform Zillow found that there were 1,489,417 homes listed for sale in the US — 120,009 less than at the same time the previous year.
The roughly 7.5% drop was the steepest decline Zillow has seen since the platform started recording inventory data back in 2013.
In addition, according to the US Zillow Home Value Index, the median home value in December 2019 was $244,054, marking a 3.75% increase from the previous year.
Zillow points out that at the end of 2018, fears of a potential market slump pushed on-the-fence sellers to list homes while hesitant buyers remained on the sidelines. This likely resulted in the inventory gains at the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019.
However, as these fears diminished in 2019 and buyers started scooping up more homes, inventory dropped. Zillow anticipates that in 2020, financially healthy buyers and low inventory will continue to spark home value growth.
On a more local level, the future state of some markets are more promising than others as we kick off the new decade. In November 2019, with the help of Zillow, Business Insider rounded up 13 US markets that are losing value the quickest along with their projected decrease in value over the next year. Of the markets on the list, five are located in California.
The market forecasted to see the biggest drop in value is North College Park in Seattle, Washington. In November, the median home value in North College Park was $599,100. According to the list, the market’s year-over-year value is forecasted to drop 6.98%.
