The current inventory-sales trend is good news for Tri-Cities homeowners who have or will have their homes on the market for the spring and summer buying and selling season.

The active inventory of homes on the market continued its decline in February. The most recent count is 1,044 listings. That’s less than half of the inventory in February last year, and it was tight then.

When the market is experiencing normal conditions, the flow of new listings replenishes the activity inventory. That balances the supply-demand dynamic. But that has not been the case for quite a while in the region monitored by the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) Home Sales Report.

Sales began absorbing excess inventory in mid-2015 and have not let up. And two years ago, new listing began paralleling new pending sales causing the total inventory to spiral lower.

That gives sellers more clout than they’ve had in 15 years. And it’s putting upward pressure on prices – a condition that’s expected to continue through this year’s prime buying and selling season.