Inventory Shortage Is Worse Than We Thought

Here are the latest numbers to put our inventory shortage into perspective.

At the end of 2020, it was announced that we had the lowest number of homes available for sale ever recorded in the national market. The same story played out here in our San Fernando Valley market. To have a balanced market where appreciation can progress naturally, you need to be working with about six months of inventory. At year’s end, we were hovering between a one- and 1.5-month supply of inventory, which is insanely tight. Now, it’s gotten even worse; we’re trying to get by with just 0.5 months of inventory—aka two weeks! Throughout the entire San Fernando Valley, we have less than 1,000 homes for sale. 

In Granada Hills, our most recent snapshot showed just 16 properties for sale out of almost 14,000 single-family units. In Porter Ranch, it’s not much better; we have 28 homes for sale right now, as opposed to the 40 we logged toward the middle of last year. Again, keep in mind that there are roughly 13,000 single-family units total in Porter Ranch. Now that you know the numbers we’re working with, you have a better sense of what we mean when we say it’s worse than we thought.

“It’s clear that the demand is massive; what we need right now is more homes to sell.”

Many of our clients thought the market would change post-election and at the start of a new year, but that’s hardly been the case. Instead of seeing a curb in demand, we’ve noted more buyers jumping into the market to take advantage of low interest rates. Bidding wars are erupting all over the place, and our listings are no exception. The home you can see behind me in the video garnered over 120 showings and 22 offers before heading into escrow for $100,000 above its original list price. It’s clear that the demand is massive; what we need right now is more homes to sell. 

Now, you may be thinking, “Scott, I’d love to sell my house and move up, but it seems like things are impossible on the buying side.” While there’s no denying the difficulties of this market, the good news is that the strategies we’re implementing for our buyers have seen success. We’re helping buyers win out even with contingent offers. 

If you want to sell your property and buy a better home in the San Fernando Valley, please reach out to us. The first step would be to take advantage of our free home valuation tool, then give us a call so we can go over some of the strategies we’re using to get deals done in today’s market. By learning about your specific buying or selling needs, we can craft a plan that helps you cut through the craziness and get some peace of mind.