Florida dominates top 20 markets for inventory declines

Realtor.com reports US home listings drop 21% from year ago

The total number of homes listed for sale on Realtor.com fell by 3.5 percent from September to October, to 2.12 million — the fifth consecutive monthly decline, the company said.

Inventories of homes listed for sale on Realtor.com were down nearly 21 percent in October from a year ago, with 135 of 146 markets tracked posting double-digit annual percentage declines.

Lower inventories, combined with generally stable list prices, can be seen as a positive sign that the overall housing market is holding its own, Realtor.com said in summarizing statistics pulled from its databases.

But housing markets remain fragile, particularly those with high unemployment rates and large numbers of seriously delinquent borrowers, the company said.

Analyzing a combination of factors, including unemployment rates and annual changes in median list price, median age of inventory, total listings, and Realtor.com search rank, Realtor.com compiled a top 10 list of “Turnaround Towns.”