Latest February Real Estate Data: Prices Down, Inventory Up [Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed]

My friends at Altos Research have out some great new data on the current trends in the real estate market:

The Altos 10-City Composite showed a decline in asking prices of 1.6% over the past three months and continued that decline in February with a decrease of 0.4% for the month. Prices of properties listed for sale fell in 15 of 22 major markets according to the Real-Time Real Estate Report, jointly published by Altos Research, the premier source for real-time real estate research, and market analysis consultancy Real IQ™.

Asking prices fell at the fastest rate in San Diego, down 3.0% during February and 5.2% for the most recent three-month period. Pri! ces also fell by more than two percent in the Detroit, Los Angeles and Las Vegas markets during February. Prices increased in Chicago, Charlotte, New York, Dallas, Phoenix and Houston during February and were flat in Seattle.

"We are seeing some stability in asking prices as a result of seasonal reductions in inventory during the past winter months," said Stephen Bedikian, partner and research director for Real IQ. "Unfortunately we also saw an increase in listed property inventories this month which is atypical this early in the year. Only a sustained reduction in inventory will arrest the market's fall nationally."

For sale property inventories increased in 19 of 22 markets during February. The Altos 10-City Composite showed a supply increase of 2.5% for the month. Property inventories declined in only three markets: Chicago, Indianapolis and San Francisco.

Data in the Real-Time Real Esta! te Report is based on analysis of over one million homes currently lis ted for-sale in 22 metropolitan markets across the country. The report is the most timely source of real estate data available.

"Inventory growth combined with the recent rise in mortgage rates and reported job losses does not bode well for future price stability," said Michael Simonsen, CEO and co-founder of Altos Research. "We expect housing price declines to resume in earnest during the next several months."

The Real-Time Real Estate Report also found that time-on-market remained high. Miami and Detroit experienced the longest time-on-market spans with an average days-on-market of 146 and Minneapolis was close behind at 145 in February. Seventeen of 22 markets had an average days-on-market of over 100. Denver led all markets with the fastest rate of inventory turnover at an average of 77 days-on-market, followed by Dallas at 79 days.

The report examines housing pricing, inventory levels and market conditio! ns in 22 major U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs): Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington, DC. The Real-Time Real Estate Report is released every month.