The number of homes listed for sale ticked up by almost 2.4% in March from February but remained down 15% from a year ago, new data shows.
The low inventory of homes for sale in many markets is helping drive up prices and is being closely watched as the spring selling season takes hold.
"The newest data shows that the outlook is optimistic for the overall real estate recovery," said Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Move, which operates Realtor.com. "Things are slowly picking up steam."
In February, the supply of homes for sale stood at 4.7 months, meaning they would all sell in that time if no new supply was added, the National Association of Realtors says.
A more balanced market has a 6-month supply. Meanwhile, prices were up 10.2% in February from the year before, market watcher CoreLogic says.
Realtor.com tracks the number of homes listed for sale. That number generally increases as the spring selling season takes off.
But home inventories have a long way to go to get back to last year's levels.
Of 146 markets tracked by Realtor.com, fewer than a dozen showed a year-over-year increase in listings last month. Those markets included Shreveport, La.; Springfield, Ill.; Huntsville, Ala.; and El Paso, Texas.
Nine of the 10 markets to see the biggest year over year drops in listings were in California.
Stockton and Sacramento posted more than 60% drops. Orange County, Oakland and San Jose saw more than 50% declines.
Seattle also was in the top 10 biggest decliners, with inventory down 40% year over year.
Some cities with the largest drops in listings also posted the biggest increases in list prices.
Nationwide, median list prices were up .05% in March year over year, Realtor.com says.
But median list prices were up year-over-year almost 28% in Los Angeles and Orange County, 32% in Oakland and 48% in Sacramento, the data shows.
