Inventory Report
The total volume of sales is down roughly 12% from last year. We are still having a reasonable year, especially when compared to other parts of the country where prices are falling by the month. Another result of the slower market are increased inventories. I measure inventory by how long it will take to sell a home in a market given its historical sales rate. The chart below shows the inventory in months in some local communities across time. I have compared the most recent data to figures I have from end of year 2005 and 2006. You can see that in each community the inventory has increased, sometimes substantially. For
instance, the inventory for single family homes in the City of Boulder has more than doubled since December 2005. Currently there is 7.03 months of inventory. Even more surprising is the suburban mountains, where there is currently a 17.2 month supply of homes on the market.
The story is much the same for attached dwellings. In fact, the only area that has shown an improvement is Louisville. Other than Louisville, all areas have increased inventory with Longmont being the weakest area.
