Survey: Housing inventories drop

A quarterly survey of housing inventories in 28 metropolitan housing markets by the Wall Street Journal shows inventories falling in all but five cities from a year ago.

But housing analysts cautioned that inventories still face pressure from pending foreclosures and homes taken off the market by owners who are waiting for buyer demand to return.

Areas with the biggest inventory declines were Sacramento (-32.1 percent), Orange County, Calif. (-27.1 percent), Los Angeles (-21.6 percent), Boston (-21.5 percent), Denver (-21.1 percent), and San Diego (-20.6 percent).

Markets where inventory was up were Manhattan (34.6 percent), Charlotte, N.C. (7.4 percent), Portland, Ore. (6.1 percent), Raleigh-Durham N.C. (3.8 percent), and Seattle (0.1 percent).

Cities with the biggest backlog of available homes were Orlando (20.8 months), Detroit (19.9 months), Tampa (16.5 months), and Chicago (15.8 months). The survey did not attempt to estimate months of supply in Los Angeles or San Diego.

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