Riverside Area 2010 Inventory Statistics

Westcoe Realtors, Riverside,California…We had one of our regular readers contact us and ask if there was any way to compare the number of homes for sale this year as opposed to 2009.  Seems they have been reading a lot about the reduced inventory in our area, but wanted some actual statistics.  Well my faithful reader, ask no more…we’ve got what you want.

Let’s start with the chart of numbers below (and yes, I know it will come out crooked on your screen…the columns are straight on mine when I type it, but crooked when you read it…what can I say?…computers!)

Properties For Sale in Riverside

                    2009          2010

Jan.             2385          1034

Feb.             2238          1095

Mar.            2106           1115

Apr.             1883           1068

May             1646           1167

Jun.              1332           1075

So, what have we got here?

First, the totals for the first half of 2009 are over 5,000 homes higher than for the first half of 2010, which means that all those stories you hear about the drastically reduced inventory in 2010 are true.  The numbers for 2010 are down by 44%.  That is huge.

Secondly, you can notice that the drop in monthly inventory began in around April of 2009, which means that the numbers for the 2nd half of this year won’t be so dramatic when compared to the 2nd half of 2009.  You can see that the amount of houses for sale in Riverside in June of 2009 had already fallen by over 1,000 compared to the beginning of the 2009 year.

Since our listing inventory is down, does that mean the number of sales are down as well?  Yes…but not nearly by as much as the listings. 

Closings for the 1st half of 2010 are only down 11.5% when compared to the 1st half of 2009.  Why?  Because the demand for housing is so strong in our area that the multitude of buyers who want to purchase a home are keeping our market stabilized.  Things might be different in other parts of the country, but here in Riverside, our demand is strong for housing.  Granted, most of the buyers are entry level families purchasing in the price ranges below the $300,000 level, but hey…everyone starts somewhere…and every purchase is good for our market.

So…to our valued reader who wrote in for stats…we hope this is what you were looking for…and if not, let us know.  We’ll find whatever you need.

Thanks for reading.