Inventory Down For Fourth Straight Month in April; U.S. Home Values Show First Monthly Decline in Two Years

- Inventory declined year-over-year in 21 of the nation's 35 largest metro areas covered by Zillow.

- Houston, San Antonio and Boston experiencing biggest decreases in supply of for-sale homes.

- U.S. home values in April were down 0.1 percent from March, the first monthly decline in more than two years.

- Home values nationwide are expected to rise another 2.2 percent over the next 12 months.

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May 21, 2014, 08:00 ET

SEATTLE, May 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Inventory remains tight nationwide, with the number of homes listed for sale on Zillow down 0.4 percent annually in Aprilⁱ, even as home values fell modestly month-over-month, according to the April Zillow® Real Estate Market Reportsⁱⁱ.

After rising at the end of 2013, for-sale inventory has fallen for four straight months to begin 2014. Inventory is down compared to last year in 21 of the nation's 35 largest metro areas covered by Zillow, with the largest inventory declines in the Houston (26.6 percent), San Antonio (23.7 percent) and Boston (23.4 percent) metro areas. More than half of metros in the U.S. currently have fewer homes for sale than at the same time last year. In many metros, inventory is tightest in the lower-end of the market, which represents the homes most commonly sought by first-time homebuyers

"First time home buyers are ready to buy, but unfortunately, aren't able to take advantage of the spring shopping season and low mortgage rates because of the lack of homes for-sale in their price range," said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. "This shortage of inventory is driven by a couple factors, most notably by stubbornly high negative equity, particularly at the lower end of the market, which is preventing many sellers from listing their homes."

National home values in April were down 0.1 percent from March to a Zillow Home Value Index of $170,200, marking the first monthly decline in more than two years. Among the 35 largest metros covered by Zillow, home values in a dozen were down in April from March, and were flat in two more. Year-over-year, U.S. home values rose 5.3 percent in April. For the 12-month period from April 2014 to April 2015, national home values are expected to rise another 2.2 percent to approximately $173,971, according to the Zillow Home Value Forecastⁱⁱⁱ. Large metro areas expected to show the most appreciation over the next year include Riverside (12.6 percent), Las Vegas (8.7 percent) and Seattle (8 percent).

National rents dipped slightly in April from March, down 0.3 percent to a Zillow Rent Index^iv of $1,311. Year-over-year, national rents were up 2.3 percent in April.

	Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI)			For-Sale Inventory
Metropolitan Areas	April 2014 ZHVI	Month-Month % Change	Year-Year % Change	Median # of Homes for Sale on Zillow, Apr. 2014 (Seasonally Adjusted)	Year-Year % Change in Inventory
United States	$170,200	-0.1%	5.3%	1,349,856	-0.4%
New York, NY	$369,400	0.0%	5.2%	61,194	-1.1%
Los Angeles, CA	$516,700	0.9%	14.7%	19,577	18.8%
Chicago, IL	$178,500	-0.7%	7.5%	34,252	-8.9%
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX	$143,900	0.4%	6.8%	18,634	-17.2%
Philadelphia, PA	$192,100	-0.4%	1.4%	28,488	-1.0%
Houston, TX	$154,700	-0.5%	2.3%	18,132	-26.6%
Washington, DC	$347,500	-0.1%	7.5%	13,755	24.8%
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL	$190,300	0.4%	15.9%	34,871	-3.0%
Atlanta, GA	$140,300	0.9%	15.0%	20,463	6.6%
Boston, MA	$352,800	0.1%	6.3%	10,548	-23.4%
San Francisco, CA	$668,200	0.7%	16.1%	3,931	-1.4%
Detroit, MI	$108,200	0.6%	16.3%	13,903	-9.2%
Riverside, CA	$267,500	1.3%	22.4%	13,931	26.7%
Phoenix, AZ	$190,200	0.5%	7.9%	23,098	31.6%
Seattle, WA	$323,000	1.0%	11.8%	8,589	8.8%
Minneapolis-St Paul, MN	$197,100	-0.5%	5.6%	9,571	12.0%
San Diego, CA	$453,700	0.5%	12.6%	6,601	-10.9%
St. Louis, MO	$131,500	0.1%	-1.9%	15,459	0.3%
Tampa, FL	$137,200	0.6%	13.7%	18,199	6.2%
Baltimore, MD	$233,300	-0.6%	2.3%	10,393	10.4%
Denver, CO	$248,000	0.0%	7.4%	6,409	-17.5%
Pittsburgh, PA	$119,500	-0.3%	5.7%	10,288	-4.3%
Portland, OR	$266,600	0.5%	10.8%	6,285	-0.6%
Sacramento, CA	$311,900	0.4%	16.5%	3,681	11.5%
San Antonio, TX	$151,500	-0.9%	2.2%	6,939	-23.7%
Orlando, FL	$158,200	0.8%	16.4%	9,571	22.2%
Cincinnati, OH	$131,000	0.2%	2.5%	8,123	-14.7%
Cleveland, OH	$116,100	-0.1%	1.1%	9,942	-9.3%
Kansas City, MO	$143,200	-0.4%	-0.6%	7,786	-9.2%
Las Vegas, NV	$175,400	1.7%	22.1%	8,018	33.5%
San Jose, CA	$777,700	1.1%	14.0%	1,642	-9.1%
Columbus, OH	$139,600	0.6%	8.2%	6,932	-18.4%
Charlotte, NC	$149,600	0.5%	5.8%	9,557	8.5%
Indianapolis, IN	$134,700	-0.2%	4.8%	8,468	-6.5%
Austin, TX	$220,200	-0.2%	6.8%	3,470	-20.2%

About Zillow:
Zillow, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z) operates the largest home-related marketplaces on mobile and the Web, with a complementary portfolio of brands and products that help people find vital information about homes, and connect with the best local professionals. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow's Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. Dr. Humphries and his team of economists and data analysts produce extensive housing data and research covering more than 450 markets at Zillow Real Estate Research. Zillow also sponsors the quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, which asks more than 100 leading economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists to predict the path of the Zillow Home Value Index over the next five years. Zillow also sponsors the bi-annual Zillow Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI) which measures consumer confidence in local housing markets, both currently and over time. The Zillow, Inc. portfolio includes Zillow.com®, Zillow Mobile, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, Zillow Rentals, Zillow Digs®, Postlets®, Diverse Solutions®, Agentfolio®, Mortech®, HotPads™ and StreetEasy®. The company is headquartered in Seattle.

Zillow.com, Zillow, Zestimate, Postlets, Mortech, Diverse Solutions, StreetEasy, Agentfolio and Digs are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc. HotPads is a trademark of Zillow, Inc.

ⁱ Each week, a count of the number of single-family, condominium and cooperative housing units listed for sale on Zillow is taken. The median of these values within a month is calculated as the monthly value. Because inventory can be seasonal, a seasonally adjusted value is reported using a standard STL procedure. This seasonally adjusted series is then smoothed using a three-month rolling average. More information is available at www.zillow.com/research.
ⁱⁱ The Zillow Real Estate Market Reports are a monthly overview of the national and local real estate markets. The reports are compiled by Zillow Real Estate Research. For more information, visit www.zillow.com/research/. The data in Zillow's Real Estate Market Reports are aggregated from public sources by a number of data providers for 930 metropolitan and micropolitan areas dating back to 1996. Mortgage and home loan data are typically recorded in each county and publicly available through a county recorder's office. All current monthly data at the national, state, metro, city, ZIP code and neighborhood level can be accessed at www.zillow.com/local-info/ and www.zillow.com/research/data.
ⁱⁱⁱ The Zillow Home Value Forecast uses data from past home value trends and current market conditions, including leading indicators like home sales, months of housing inventory supply and unemployment, to predict home values over the next 12 months for the nation and for more than 250 markets across the country.
^iv The Zillow Rent Index is the median Rent Zestimate® (estimated monthly rental price) for a given geographic area on a given day, and includes the value of all single-family residences, condominiums, cooperatives and apartments in Zillow's database, regardless of whether they are currently listed for rent. It is expressed in dollars.

SOURCE Zillow, Inc.