If you read articles from other cities you will see that the Huntsville Metro Area is not isolated in having a low inventory. From Seattle, San Francisco, and Reno in the West to Richmond, Poughkeepsie, and the Delaware Riverfront in Wilmington in the East, all have been affected by lower than normal inventory. This is a sellers market. This means that seller's homes on average have a lower days on market time, possibly more offers coming in, possible higher selling price either through demand/multiple offers, and less competition with resales. As always major competition is still there with new construction which is still very strong. On the other side buyers may have the rougher part of the deal. If the buyer likes a home they may have to make a decision quicker than they would normally with other buyers interested in the same property. They might also have to survive a multiple offer situation in the hopes that the seller takes their offer. Buyers also will look at if they want to pay more for the house with the sales price increasing due to demand.
The National Association of Realtor's recent survey has indicated one strong key to low inventory was the baby boomer generation is currently less likely to sell their home and is happy with the home they currently have. Both percentages of these are over 70%. According to the NAR, this translates into approximately 33 million homes that will stay off the housing market.
Below are two graphs showing over a three year time period the gradual increases in median price per square foot and median listing prices in Huntsville, AL.
Graphs courtesy of REALTOR.com
Real Estate of Huntsville
