March 2024 · Guide · 3 min read · by Kinan Sawar, MD — REALTOR® at Shorewest, REALTORS®
If you want to understand why one market is softening while another holds firm, start with one number: how many homes are for sale.
In a market frozen by high rates, supply does most of the explaining. Where inventory rebuilt, prices softened; where it stayed scarce, prices held.
The Sun Belt, which builds aggressively, saw listings climb back toward normal — and price growth duly cooled. Much of the Midwest and Northeast, where building is slow and lock-in is severe, stayed starved of inventory and kept grinding higher.
Demand is hard to measure in real time; inventory isn’t. A market with rising active listings is loosening, almost regardless of what buyers are feeling. It’s the cleanest single gauge of who has leverage.
Watch the trend, not just the level: a market with low but rapidly rising inventory is changing faster than its raw count suggests.
Kinan Sawar, MD — REALTOR® at Shorewest, REALTORS®, serving Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington, Racine, Kenosha, and Walworth counties). Email: [email protected] · Phone: (618) 713-2964.
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Home values and rents are Zillow ZHVI/ZORI estimates for the named area, as of 2026-07-03; incomes and population are U.S. Census (SAIPE, Population Estimates); migration is IRS Statistics of Income. Area-level statistical estimates for information only — not an appraisal, and not financial, legal, or tax advice.