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  1. Housing
  2. Housing Market

The Number of Homes for Sale Just Reached a Record Low

By: Leslie Cook
Leslie Cook, expert in Mortgages, housing market, home renovations, consumer credit, and Editor, Real Estate at Money
Leslie Cook
Editor, Real Estate | Joined November 2019
Leslie Cook is Money’s lead mortgage reporter covering trends in the housing market, mortgage rates and real estate. She also writes about home renovation trends and tips.
See full bio
Editor: Brad Tuttle
Brad Tuttle, expert in Personal finance, shopping, consumer trends, and Senior Editor at Money
Brad Tuttle
Senior Editor | Joined January 2014
Brad Tuttle is a senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.
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Published: Jun 21, 2023 5 min read
Illustration of a dice with homes available for purchase, with the chances being really low
Rangely García for Money

The lack of homes for sale continues to plague the housing market. Buyers searching for that perfect house found fewer options last month as the number of listed homes dropped to a record low.

According to Redfin, just under 1.4 million homes (seasonally adjusted) were on the market in May. That’s the lowest level of inventory ever recorded by the real estate brokerage since it started keeping track of this data in 2012. Year over year, the number of for-sale properties was down by 7.1%.

Just how alarming is the lack of available homes? Compared to May 2019, when there were 2.2 million homes on the market, inventory is down by almost 40%.

What’s causing the housing supply shortage?

There are several factors affecting the supply of homes for sale. Probably the most significant is that the housing market has been short of inventory ever since the 2008 crash. Experts estimate there was already a deficit of about 4 million homes before the start of the pandemic in 2020.