Low Housing Inventories and Markets Most Affected: Series Factoid 2
January 25,
2019 by Laurie Northington in General 
In many metropolitan areas, critically low inventories and subsequent skyrocketing home prices and rental rates are locking out new home buyers and impeding moves at a time when the economy is growing and employment is high. This is the second factoid in a series of five factoids that zeros in on markets hit the hardest with the housing shortage and those that are fairing better.
While housing inventory has fluctuated among the states with the highest ratio of homes for sale, no state has maintained above a ratio of 2.0 homes for sale per 100 households through June of this year. At the highest, Vermont has 1.6 homes for sale per 100 households – down from 2.4 in 2015.
Big cities have been hit hard by the housing shortage. The top three largest markets with the tightest homes for sale inventories are located in the West -- San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles. And by far, the Seattle area has been hit the hardest – inventory plummeting 76.7 percent down to a ratio of 0.34 homes for sale per 100 households in the past seven years. Metro areas with high inventories in 2011 – Atlanta and Miami – have fallen 62.9 percent and 44.5 percent, but both markets are still in better shape than other major cities.
Source: Zillow Inventory Data; Census Bureau Housing Units
Note: 2018 housing unites have been estimated *Data is unavailable for Nevada and Indiana