Three key housing market data points were in sync at the end of March.   

There were 991 homes in active inventory. At the same time, there were 983 pending sales and 905 new listings. 

Typically, up to 5% of the pending sales will fall through due to contingencies, appraisal, and home inspection issues. That fall-through rate has been running a little higher this year. Still, the fall-throughs won’t be much relief to the total number of homes for sale. 

Nationally new listings are registering small increases as the market enters the prime spring home buying and selling season. That’s not the case here in Northeast Tenn. There was one fewer new listing in March than there was during March last year. And since pending sales outnumber new listings the active inventory is not growing.  

The convergence of active listings, pending sales, and new listings is a sign of today’s market dynamics. It points to a continuation of a super-tight inventory. For example, Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, recently said January home sales could have been 20% higher if not for the lack of existing homes on the market.