South Florida plummeting residential inventory

Even as housing prices seem to bottom out in South Florida, supply has shrunk close to 2005 levels, according to Bloomberg's Businessweek.

BW reports that inventory has become so scarce that Realtors are resorting to unconventional methods to get listings. An agent based in Broward County began hosting happy hour soirees for potential sellers, a tactic that led to four listings, all of which landed buyers within a week.

“I tell them if they sell today or in two years, there won’t be a considerable amount of appreciation in their house and they might miss an opportunity to buy at the low end,” she said.

Southeast Florida total housing inventory. Source: SEF-MLS

Above chart includes all types of housing, including single family homes, townhomes and condominiums. Below are the current numbers for single family homes only for Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties for the month of April:

Southeast Florida single family housing inventory, April'11 - April'12. Source: SEF-MLS

[Businessweek via The Real Deal, own statistics compiled from SEF-MLS]