Want To Buy A House? Good Luck Finding One

The number houses for sale in the United States reached a record low in December, realtor.com reported Thursday in its Monthly Housing Trends Report. There were fewer than 700,000 homes for sale in the US for the first time in the report’s history.

The report found:

  • The number of homes for sale was down 39.6 percent – which amounts to 449,000 fewer homes for sale than last December.
  • The median listing price grew 13.4 percent over last year to $340,000.
  • Homes sold in 66 days on average in December, which is 13 days faster than last year.

“The shortage of homes for sale has been an ongoing issue for the last couple of years, but in December the combination of the holiday inventory slowdown and the pandemic buying trend caused it to dip to its lowest level in history,” realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale said. “Looking forward, we could see new lows in the next couple of months as buyers remain relatively active, but a surge of new COVID cases may slow the number of sellers entering the market.”

Here are the changes in listings by metropolitan area:

MetroNew Listing 
Count YoY
Median 
Listing 
Price YoY
Median 
Listing 
Price
Median 
Days on 
Market Y-Y
Median 
Days on 
Market
Active 
Listing 
Count YoY
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.123.8%9.9%$1,181,556-164316.3%
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Calif.98.9%10.9%$995,050-65228.0%
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass.-N.H.50.9%10.0%$649,050-1561-25.2%
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-Va.-Md.-Wash.,Va.38.4%5.8%$497,495-1548-30.6%
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif.35.7%13.9%$999,050-1165-14.1%
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.28.9%7.8%$627,500-1350-35.6%
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C.27.2%1.5%$308,500-2843-44.7%
Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade, Calif.26.9%10.9%$549,050-1844-46.1%
New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa.21.6%13.6%$626,550285-2.5%
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis.20.4%-1.6%$344,300-1052-31.5%
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn.16.0%9.1%$299,950-2354-33.1%
Providence-Warwick, R.I.-Mass.13.1%8.0%$399,500-2053-51.9%
San Diego-Carlsbad, Calif.12.1%10.8%$797,050661-20.6%
Louisville/Jefferson County, Ky.-Ind.11.9%1.0%$239,950-2342-45.3%
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Ore.-Wash.11.8%9.0%$511,527-1655-48.2%
Richmond, Va.11.4%13.1%$362,000-1255-45.8%
Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nev.10.0%6.6%$340,049-1151-18.5%
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md.8.7%13.4%$327,050-1461-39.7%
Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, N.Y.4.3%8.7%$206,389374-47.7%
Raleigh, N.C.4.3%6.3%$385,235-1851-52.0%
Kansas City, Mo.-Kan.3.9%8.3%$325,050-1957-46.3%
Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Ind.3.3%3.2%$263,750-1852-45.9%
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, Md.3.2%5.0%$325,050-1753-51.2%
St. Louis, Mo.-Ill.2.4%8.7%$231,500-1468-38.7%
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.2.1%17.2%$475,050-1551-56.5%
New Orleans-Metairie, La.0.9%16.8%$325,050-1169-38.8%
Columbus, Ohio0.0%11.4%$306,250-1649-49.2%
Birmingham-Hoover, Ala.0.0%2.7%$256,800-1863-35.2%
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Ill.-Ind.-Wis.-0.8%9.3%$327,025-1059-33.8%
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla.-1.3%0.7%$320,050-465-24.0%
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Fla.-1.9%1.0%$409,050593-20.6%
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.-2.7%10.2%$412,551-1342-49.5%
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas-3.5%9.9%$329,750-1257-33.5%
Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio-6.0%9.5%$197,000-1558-47.3%
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.-6.2%8.3%$299,950-1253-46.3%
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis.-7.0%4.9%$289,950-1155-41.7%
Cincinnati, Ohio-Ky.-Ind.-8.2%15.4%$299,950-1155-43.8%
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colo.-9.2%7.0%$532,550-555-53.6%
Austin-Round Rock, Texas-9.9%20.0%$420,000-1156-55.9%
San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas-9.9%3.7%$295,300-1257-45.6%
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas-10.5%5.5%$354,045-1352-51.9%
Pittsburgh, Pa.-10.8%N/A$239,500-1472-40.2%
Oklahoma City, Okla.-12.8%4.9%$262,300-953-42.9%
Jacksonville, Fla.-13.5%1.0%$313,540-1558-49.7%
Rochester, N.Y.-13.6%16.3%$232,500-1250-48.0%
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Mich-14.1%11.8%$251,550-1151-48.4%
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga.-14.9%10.6%$349,950-1153-49.3%
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, N.C.-S.C.-16.0%6.9%$362,803-1552-50.2%
Memphis, Tenn.-Miss.-Ark.-18.5%8.1%$252,045-1652-52.0%
Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, Tenn.-19.9%7.8%$396,420-1037-48.9%