Sales have recovered and are now "average", but nowhere near the levels seen in 2016. Inventory is low and new listings have recovered in recent weeks. The result is a low MOI (months of inventory), which portends a decent spring in terms of price growth, and the MLS-HPI appears to be bearing this thesis out. A long stretch of robust new listings is required to allow low inventory to recover and it appears that new listings have returned to the point where that can start slowly occurring.
Attached housing (townhouse and apartments) continues to be stronger than single detached housing in terms of price strength as measured by the change in the MLS-HPI (see link at beginning of this post). The closing of the gap between housing types was reasonably expected in the wake of detached housing prices having had accelerated in previous years.
I expect new listings to occur at an average pace over the coming few months and inventory to grow; I was surprised by the persistence in the dearth of new listings but I also think it's a temporary phenomenon: supply is coming.
