According to realtor.com®'s Weekly Housing Report for the week ending Sept. 12, while the overall housing market is staying strong, recent natural disasters have prevented potential sellers across the West and South from listing their homes.
 
The number of new listings for the week declined 17 percent compared to last year as a result of wildfires, hurricanes and the Labor Day holiday. In addition, the total number of homes available on the market decreased 39 percent year-over-year.
 
Demand is keeping the markets, busy, however. It currently takes 54 days to sell a home, which is 11 days faster than the same time last year. And home prices continue to increase due to the inventory crunch and high demand—median listing prices are up 11.1 percent year-over-year.
 
"Today's homebuyers face some daunting challenges. Home price growth just set a new high of 11 percent with no indication of a slowdown and there are nearly 40 percent fewer homes for sale than this time last year," said Danielle Hale, chief economist for realtor.com®. "Inventory is so low that any disruption, such as this week's wildfires and hurricanes, feels even more stifling for would-be home buyers. Although this year is anything but typical, we expect inventory to follow the usual seasonal pattern of tapering off in the next few weeks, but we don't expect buyer demand to drop off as much as usual. Buyers hoping to take advantage of less competition during the housing off-season will likely be disappointed and could find it even more difficult to find a home."   

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