Housing Inventory Drops in November

A new report from ZipRealty shows the supply of homes for sale in November declined by an average of 3.78 percent in 26 major metropolitan areas that the company researched.

The report measures inventory from month to month and also compiles quarterly results of the information and covers single family homes, condos, and townhomes.

Declines could be indicative of sellers deciding to take their homes off the market, and could also be a result of foreclosure moratoriums, which have not yet ended in all states. And historically low mortgage rates could have some more eager to buy before rates edge up again.

Despite the declines, inventory was still an average of 11.6 percent higher than it was during the month of November in 2009.