Inventory Rebounds amid Record Home Value and Rent Growth

Zillow

Continued torrid growth in the housing market paired with a long-awaited bump in inventory in May, according to Zillow’s® latest Market Report. Home value appreciation continues to break records and typical time on market is down to just six days. Meanwhile, rents are rising quickly across the U.S., breaking out after growth was stymied under the pandemic.

Inventory is finally showing signs of recovery at the national level after nearly a year of steady decline. The 3.9% month-over-month gain in May is the first uptick since July 2020 and only the fifth seen in the last 24 months. Of the top-50 largest U.S. markets, only six saw inventory fall from April. Inventory across the U.S. is down 31.2% since May 2020, an improvement over the 32.8% annual decline seen in April. New inventory has trended up since mid-March.

“Despite extremely strong demand for homes in this red-hot market, a steady increase in new listings appears to have finally started turning the tides, bringing a long-anticipated turn toward more choices for buyers,” said Treh Manhertz, Zillow economist. “Builders are rushing to churn out new homes, while widespread vaccinations and improved confidence in the economy should help current owners feel more comfortable listing their homes for sale.”

However, the typical time for a newly listed home to go under contract dropped to just six days nationwide, one day shorter than in April. Time on market is the shortest at three days in hot Midwest metros of Cincinnati, Kansas City and Columbus.

Annual home appreciation reached 13.2% in May while monthly growth was 1.7%, both of which are new records within Zillow data reaching back through 1996. Typical home values now stand at $287,148. Month over month growth accelerated in 47 of the 50 largest U.S. markets and decelerated in just three — roughly matching the local market heat in April.

Austin retained its lead in annual appreciation with a blistering 30.5% increase over 2020, followed by Phoenix (23.5%) and Salt Lake City (20.6%). Even the metros with the lowest annual appreciation — Orlando, New Orleans and Oklahoma City — still put up historically strong numbers above 9%.

Typical rents rose substantially, accelerating from 1.3% monthly growth in April to 2.3% in May — the largest monthly appreciation since 2015. Rents hit $1,747 in May, up 5.4% or $89 over last year. Rent appreciation is especially strong in the Inland West. Of the 100 largest U.S. metros, the top eight for annual rent growth are Boise, Phoenix, Spokane, Las Vegas, Riverside, Stockton, Fresno, and Albuquerque — all with increases higher than 15%.

The list of major cities with lower rents than last year shrank again, as Seattle and Chicago clawed into the green. Only the expensive coastal metros of San Francisco, San Jose, New York, Boston, and Washington D.C. remain in the red.

Zillow economists forecast home values to increase by 14.9% by May 2022, an upward revision from the April forecast. Home sales are expected to reach 5.91 million in 2021, a 4.8% increase over 2020.

Mortgage rates listed by third-party lenders on Zillow began May at a monthly high of 2.69%, dropped down to a mere 2.63% on May 7 and 10 — close to all-time lows — and ended at a monthly high of 2.84%. Zillow’s real-time mortgage rates are based on thousands of custom mortgage quotes submitted daily to anonymous borrowers on the Zillow Group Mortgages site by third-party lenders and reflect recent changes in the market.

Metropolitan Area*

Zillow Home
Value Index

ZHVI –
YoY
Change 

Zillow
Observed
Rent Index 

ZORI –
YoY
Change

Inventory –
MoM
Change

Days on
Market

United States

$287,148

13.2%

$1,747

5.4%

3.9%

6

New York, NY

$536,211

10.6%

$2,541

-4.4%

3.8%

26

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

$794,575

13.5%

$2,425

3.1%

2.4%

10

Chicago, IL

$271,019

10.7%

$1,758

0.3%

7.5%

6

Dallas-Fort Worth, TX

$297,044

14.4%

$1,551

8.0%

4.7%

13

Philadelphia, PA

$294,147

14.7%

$1,662

5.2%

9.3%

7

Houston, TX

$247,026

10.4%

$1,436

5.0%

0.2%

8

Washington, DC

$504,257

12.8%

$2,008

-0.4%

13.6%

5

Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL

$344,370

10.7%

$2,086

11.1%

-6.4%

16

Atlanta, GA

$286,047

15.0%

$1,696

13.6%

1.7%

6

Boston, MA

$573,182

13.1%

$2,528

-1.4%

11.2%

7

San Francisco, CA

$1,255,661

11.6%

$2,867

-5.9%

5.9%

9

Detroit, MI

$212,925

12.8%

$1,308

9.3%

8.7%

5

Riverside, CA

$472,569

19.0%

$2,213

17.3%

4.3%

8

Phoenix, AZ

$367,484

23.5%

$1,620

17.7%

1.6%

7

Seattle, WA

$632,585

17.1%

$1,937

0.4%

13.7%

6

Minneapolis-St Paul, MN

$337,255

11.1%

$1,578

2.3%

11.6%

9

San Diego, CA

$754,557

19.6%

$2,420

8.8%

6.5%

7

St. Louis, MO

$209,683

13.4%

$1,207

6.3%

7.1%

5

Tampa, FL

$276,685

17.7%

$1,676

15.0%

-2.0%

5

Baltimore, MD

$336,738

12.1%

$1,695

8.0%

11.7%

5

Denver, CO

$529,969

15.2%

$1,760

6.6%

10.8%

4

Pittsburgh, PA

$190,588

15.0%

$1,258

3.7%

8.9%

5

Portland, OR

$496,162

15.1%

$1,630

6.0%

11.4%

5

Charlotte, NC

$288,116

16.1%

$1,570

10.4%

2.5%

4

Sacramento, CA

$516,489

17.1%

$1,985

12.7%

10.1%

6

San Antonio, TX

$237,979

12.4%

$1,281

7.1%

0.8%

6

Orlando, FL

$290,447

9.3%

$1,667

8.9%

-3.4%

6

Cincinnati, OH

$221,607

14.9%

$1,285

7.5%

7.3%

3

Cleveland, OH

$188,562

15.3%

$1,222

5.7%

8.2%

4

Kansas City, MO

$244,048

15.9%

$1,205

7.1%

11.7%

3

Las Vegas, NV

$339,768

12.7%

$1,527

17.3%

-0.4%

6

Columbus, OH

$250,201

13.6%

$1,332

6.8%

11.3%

3

Indianapolis, IN

$216,944

14.8%

$1,317

10.0%

8.5%

4

San Jose, CA

$1,384,778

11.4%

$2,874

-4.9%

8.0%

11

Austin, TX

$458,885

30.5%

$1,554

9.3%

15.8%

9

Virginia Beach, VA

$278,282

11.1%

$1,431

11.5%

9.4%

14

Nashville, TN

$329,597

12.1%

$1,651

7.0%

4

Providence, RI

$382,289

16.6%

$1,756

12.9%

9.0%

7

Milwaukee, WI

$237,009

14.8%

$1,219

4.3%

22.5%

32

Jacksonville, FL

$271,909

13.7%

$1,486

13.2%

1.3%

5

Memphis, TN

$185,176

14.6%

$1,480

14.5%

9.1%

16

Oklahoma City, OK

$179,507

9.9%

$1,174

6.9%

5.0%

4

Louisville-Jefferson County, KY

$207,950

11.7%

$1,151

5.8%

6.6%

4

Hartford, CT

$279,657

15.3%

$1,502

8.8%

10.6%

5

Richmond, VA

$283,730

11.4%

$1,388

8.4%

10.0%

5

New Orleans, LA

$233,885

9.5%

$1,277

8.8%

1.4%

7

Buffalo, NY

$1,190

8.4%

13.4%

9

Raleigh, NC

$333,255

14.0%

$1,510

10.4%

-1.4%

4

Birmingham, AL

$198,513

11.1%

$1,191

8.0%

-1.9%

4

Salt Lake City, UT

$486,928

20.6%

$1,488

10.9%

13.5%

5

*Table ordered by market size 

1  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 928 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/research/data.

2  Zillow Group Marketplace, Inc. is a licensed mortgage broker, NMLS #1303160.


Speak Your Mind

In Business Dailies

Sign up for a complimentary year of In Business Dailies with a bonus Digital Subscription of In Business Magazine delivered to your inbox each month!

  • Get the day’s Top Stories
  • Relevant In-depth Articles
  • Daily Offers
  • Coming Events