Active housing inventory per 1,000 households: September 2026 vs. pre-pandemic September 2018–2019

Positive value = More inventory per 1,000 households now than during the pre-pandemic 2018–2019 period. Negative value = Less inventory per 1,000 households now than during the pre-pandemic 2018–2019 period.

During the Pandemic Housing Boom, inventory drained way down amid overheated housing demand. Since then, it has been on the mend as housing demand has softened—however, that rebound has varied by market. Previously, to gauge the inventory recovery, ResiClub compared active inventory with inventory in the same month in 2019. However, because household counts gradually shift over time, we now adjust for those changes by calculating active inventory per 1,000 households. In addition, to reduce one-off noise in 2019, we use the average of the same month in 2018 and 2019 as the pre-pandemic baseline. Those latter two adjustments don’t materially change the picture; however, enough time has passed that we believe they’re now necessary.
Chart: Lance LambertSource: ResiClub analysis of listing data from Realtor.com and population data from U.S. Census Bureau Download image