More Realtors Than Houses for Sale and What It Could Mean for Apartments

The National Association of Realtors recently reported that there are fewer houses for sale than there are realtors. (Full story here in the Wall Street Journal). Why should you care? Well, it's an indicator that the for sale housing market has a very short supply, which means that there are fewer places available for renters who might want to buy.

Tight supply also means that prices are rising; NAR reported that the median existing-home price rose 15.8% in February from a year earlier. Combine that with rising interest rates and the affordability of buying compares less favorably to that of renting - another hindrance to renters converting to buyers.

The apartment industry already has high occupancy rates, despite the challenges of the pandemic, so even with an army of realtors out there ready to sell to them, it doesn't look like renters will have many purchasing options in the near future.