Inventory is low... but nobody is talking about why?

Everybody knows that inventory right now is extremely low, but nobody is answering the question “why?” 

I think it's extremely important that we take the time to answer why inventory is low, not just tell people that it is. The reason for that is that by understanding the workings behind it and what's driving it also helps us understand when things might change and what might be coming down the road so that we can look for those changes. First of all, there are thousands of homeowners that are really unmotivated to sell their property because they don't have to pay their mortgage. Remember that the forbearance programs are still in place. 

Also, it looks like more stimulus is actually coming down the pike here so it's hard to say exactly when that's going to change, but make no mistake about it… when we finally see those mortgages come due and people have to step up and pay, motivation will naturally change. Until then we could expect to see suppressed inventory. Secondly, the home is now so much more than a home. We are all experiencing this, whether the home is now also the office or whether it's also now a school or it's entertainment, the home is doing so much more for us. Because of that, two things happen. One, is demand is driven way up so everything that does come to market tends to get absorbed. This also makes it harder to show your property.

There's people that don't want to necessarily get their home on the market, except for, it's hard to do. So if it's also literally where your children are studying and you know, doing their schoolwork and if it's also your gym and if it's also your, your only refuge then it makes it hard to have the public come in and take a look at your property. Now, of course, that's one of the reasons why we've come up with the Five Day Blitz, which makes it entirely more convenient for you but speaking on a global level, this is what's driving inventory down right now. We'll continue to watch all these factors and also look for anything else that's changing but really until we see some give in any of these areas, we're likely to see low inventory.