Number of the Day Shows Depleted Housing Market

That’s how few homes were left on the U.S. market at year-end—the smallest number since at least 1999—because of the pandemic homebuying frenzy.

Home sales this year reached a fever pitch not seen since before the Great Recession, the National Association of Realtors said Friday, with buyers snapping up homes in a race for more space to live and work during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, if sales continued at their December pace, the supply of homes for sale would be exhausted in less than 2 months—the shortest timespan NAR has recorded in the 38 years it's been tracking inventory.

Fueling the frenzy are the amazingly low interest rates available: the average for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 2.77% in the week through Thursday.

“Although mortgage rates are projected to increase, they will continue to hover near record lows at around 3%," Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement.