Home Inventory Up 4% in May; Second Consecutive Monthly Increase in Latest Redfin Special Report

SEATTLE, June 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage, today issued a special report on the increasing number of homes for sale across the country. Active listings grew 6.4 percent between March and April and another 4.2 percent between April and May. Last year inventory peaked in January and fell almost all year.

"Lots of homeowners want to sell," said Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman. "And lots of people want to buy. The problem has just been agreeing on a price. Over the last 12 months, Redfin agents have talked to plenty of homeowners seeking to test the market at a very aggressive price, just so a sale would yield enough money to pay off the mortgage. Those consultations often ended with a decision to wait. What has changed in the last 60 days is that these owners are now listing, selling – and even appraising -- at the price they've needed to get all along. People who bought near the peak in 2006 and 2007 -- only to get buried in the downturn under a mountain of debt -- can now, for the first time in years, see daylight. And they're running for it."

Over the past year, historically low inventory levels were hampering a full-scale housing market recovery, not to mention frustrating would-be homebuyers. Total active listings are still down 22 percent from a year ago, but the trend is improving. If the current rate of improvement continues, inventory will likely hit positive year-over-year growth before the end of the year. The reason for the turnaround is largely due to rising home prices, which are giving more sellers sufficient equity to sell, and enticing sellers who already had equity to enter the market as well. In February, Redfin reported that if prices continued to rise, it expected new listings in most markets to move back into the black.

As supply and demand come into balance, Redfin expects bidding wars to ease and home-price increases to moderate. Link to the full inventory report: http://blog.redfin.com/blog/2013/06/inventory-comeback.html

Redfin also issued its monthly analysis of home prices, sales and inventory across 19 U.S. markets today. Link to the complete Redfin Real-Time Home Price Tracker: http://www.redfin.com/research/reports/real-time-price-tracker

About Redfin

Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate broker that represents people buying and selling homes. Founded and run by technologists, Redfin has a team of experienced, full-service real estate agents who are advocates, not sales-people, earning customer-satisfaction bonuses, not commissions. Redfin's online tools feature all the broker-listed homes for sale, as well as for-sale-by-owner properties that don't pay brokers a commission. Because Redfin is a brokerage and a member of the multiple listing services (MLSs) in each market it serves, Redfin's website and mobile apps show all the agent-listed homes for sale, and does not show any homes as active that are already off the market. The company serves 22 U.S. markets and has closed more than $8 billion in home sales. In 2012, Redfin was named one of The DIGITAL 100: World's Most Valuable Private Tech Companies by Business Insider. Follow us on our blog (blog.redfin.com), Twitter (@redfin), and Facebook (facebook.com/redfin).

SOURCE Redfin Corporation