ATLANTA — Real estate company Redfin says the United States’ housing supply is at its highest level since 2020, but the company said it’s because many homes are on the market but haven’t sold.
“For all the talk of America’s housing shortage, one would think that’s great news. But the story is nuanced; a major reason for the jump in supply is a pileup of unsold homes, many of which buyers have deemed undesirable because they seem overpriced,” Redfin said in their report.
More than half of home listings in the United States in November had been on the market for at least two months, 60 days, without going under contract.
Redfin said that was the highest amount for any November since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, and was up just shy of 50% compared to the previous year.
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In the Atlanta market, similar numbers are hitting real estate levels, too. For November, 54.6% of homes on the market were unsold for at least 60 days.
According to the company’s data of active listings, there were 24,233 homes for sale in Atlanta between Nov. 18 and Dec. 15, a nearly 5% increase.
However, with the number of homes remaining on the market without going under contract being 54.6%, that means more than 13,200 homes remained listed without going to sale.
The number of homes for sale staying high comes amid a housing crisis in both Atlanta and the broader U.S.
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“A lot of listings on the market are either stale or uninhabitable. There’s a lot of inventory, but it doesn’t feel like enough,” said Meme Loggins, a Redfin Premier real estate agent. “I explain to sellers that their house will sit on the market if it’s not fairly priced. Homes that are priced well and in good condition are flying off the market in three to five days, but homes that are overpriced can sit for over three months.”
Due to pricing compared to affordability, homes are staying empty while waiting for sale.
The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis reported that there were 147,029 housing units across the country that were included in the overall inventory. Of that, 14,915 were vacant, or about 10.1% of the overall inventory.
Getting deeper into the numbers, the U.S. Census Bureau analyzed the market, focused on inventory, vacancies and types of units.
“Owner-occupied housing units made up 58.9 percent of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 30.9% of the inventory. Vacant year-round units comprised 7.8% of total housing units, while 2.3% were vacant for seasonal use,” the Census Bureau reported. “Approximately 2.3% of the total units were vacant for rent, 0.6% were vacant for sale only and 0.7% were rented or sold but not yet occupied. Vacant units that were held off market comprised 4.2% of the total housing stock.”
As far as where those vacancies were most common, the Census Bureau said it was highest in the South U.S., meaning Georgia and its neighboring states.
In the region, rental vacancies were 8.5% of inventory, while the homeowner vacancy rate was 1.4%. For renters, the next closest vacancy by region was in the Midwest, with a 6.9% rate, while the next closest vacancy rate for homeowners was 0.8% in the Northeast and West regions of the U.S.
A recent study by LendingTree of the U.S. housing market found that 5.6 million homes were vacant, including nearly
In Atlanta, LendingTree said there were 2,548,356 housing units and 197,073 that were empty, for an overall rate of 7.76%. The most common reason for a vacancy in the city was that it was available for rent, the company said. Roughly 38% of homes that were vacant were empty as a result, according to their data.
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