Inventory made the second monthly ever-so-slight increase in May. At month’s end, there were 1,048 active listings, up from 995 in April. That’s still a little less than half of the active inventory this time last year. 

The monthly regional inventory sounds like good news on some days compared to the real-time active listings in the county and city markets. A couple of the major cities dropped to the 50 active listing range one day near the end of the month. 

Inventory also put the squeeze on existing home sales for the second straight month. And – like active listings – the change was slight. There were two fewer sales in May than in April when sales were down 31 from March. 

Signs point to a continuation of slight improvement during the coming months, but there’s no sign of an abrupt softening – at least through the end of the second quarter and the first month or so of the third quarter.