All across America the inventory of existing homes for sale has been experiencing a dramatic drop. Here, in Columbia County for example, the existing number of active homes for sale as of May 1st is at 566\. One year ago that number was 720. What impact is this having on our local market? To start with the simple law of supply and demand will certainly come into play by pushing home prices higher. Unfortunately, the first time homebuyers are feeling it the most because this is making homeownership less affordable to them. The market began to slowly recover over the last five years. The glut of homes under foreclosure as well as short sales has been greatly reduced. During that same period the construction of new homes had also dropped. What can we expect moving forward, slightly higher prices, and more competition among buyers for the remaining inventory. Good news for sellers, not such good news for buyers.
