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As the spring housing market inches closer, inventory of homes for sale is rising faster in Greater Boston than it did last spring.

On a year-over-year basis, active listings increased by 13.3 percent across the region in February according to a new report from Realtor.com.

“Inventory has improved for more than two years, but the momentum has faltered in recent months,” Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale said in a statement. “Supply gains have been concentrated in the South and West and skewed toward homes priced below $500,000. While the Northeast and Midwest have seen growth, they remain significantly undersupplied. As we move toward the spring buying season with mortgage rates near 3.5-year lows, a key question is whether this thaw spurs more buyers or more sellers.”

Nationally, active listings climbed 7.9 percent year over year in February with 914,860 homes on the market. Unfortunately, housing supply remains 16.8 percent below typical 2017–2019 levels.

Inventory gains can partially be credited to the fact that it is taking homes longer to sell. In the Greater Boston housing market, median days on market increased by 10 days year-over-year last month.

Nationally, homes spent 70 days on the market in February on average. This represents an increase of four days year-over-year and is the 23rd straight month of a slowing sales pace on an annual basis.

Greater Boston’s housing market differed from national trends regarding new listings, possibly thanks to poor weather across New England over the last 60 days, including two major snow storms. New listings in Boston decreased by 3 percent, Realtor.com found, while nationally they grew by 2.4 percent year-over-year. Across the Northeast, new listings fell by 7.8 percent.

Inventory Starting to Grow Heading into Boston Spring Housing Market

by Sam Lattof time to read: 1 min
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