Home values saw their smallest monthly increase since May 2012, up just 0.2 percent in January from December according to the latest Zillow Real Estate Market Reports. Year-over-year, U.S. home values rose 6.3 percent in January, down from peak gains of 7.1 percent in August 2013. This slowdown is in part due to the rise in inventory of for-sale homes across the country. The number of homes listed for sale on Zillow was up 11.1 percent annually in January, the fifth straight month of rising year-over-year inventory.

 

According to Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries, home shoppers should expect to have more buying power this spring as more inventory comes onto the market and home prices start to level off.  This slightly more balanced market is another step on the road back to normal, and will help offset the impact of rising mortgage rates and more expensive homes for buyers.

 

Inventory rose year-over-year in 82 percent of metro areas covered by Zillow, with the largest inventory gains coming in some of the areas that were hit hardest by the housing recession, including Las Vegas (up 42.8 percent), Phoenix (up 30.5 percent) and Sacramento (up 26 percent). These metros also experienced significant cooling in the pace of home value appreciation in January, as buyers had more homes to choose from and were less apt to engage in the kinds of bidding wars that helped drive prices up so quickly last year.

Want to know what the current state of the housing market is where you live?  Dive into Zillow’s data, available all the way down to ZIP code and neighborhood levels, here.

For a deeper analysis from Dr. Stan Humphries visit Zillow Research.

Home Value and Inventory Trends in the 35 Largest Markets
U.S. Metro	Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), Jan. 2014	Y-o-Y % change in ZHVI	Median # of Homes for Sale on Zillow, Jan. 2014	Y-o-Y % Change in Inventory
United States	$169,600	6.3%	1,512,949	11.1%
New York, NY	$369,900	6.7%	73,794	9.0%
Los Angeles, CA	$501,300	17.3%	19,935	0.3%
Chicago, IL	$178,100	9.1%	38,868	-4.5%
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX	$144,400	4.6%	21,379	-12.3%
Philadelphia, PA	$193,700	3.0%	31,024	5.2%
Houston, TX	$143,700	3.8%	22,630	-13.2%
Washington, DC	$345,500	9.0%	13,847	14.6%
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL	$187,100	18.9%	36,627	7.7%
Atlanta, GA	$137,600	16.2%	22,925	10.7%
Boston, MA	$351,600	8.0%	13,915	-11.2%
San Francisco, CA	$642,400	18.4%	4,188	-1.8%
Detroit, MI	$106,600	20.0%	15,520	-1.8%
Riverside, CA	$259,600	27.3%	13,607	18.0%
Phoenix, AZ	$187,000	10.2%	20,607	30.5%
Seattle, WA	$310,000	9.6%	8,984	12.7%
Minneapolis-St Paul, MN	$197,300	7.8%	10,243	15.0%
San Diego, CA	$442,500	16.3%	6,820	-12.3%
St. Louis, MO	$131,500	-3.3%	17,509	6.9%
Tampa, FL	$135,700	16.4%	19,735	15.4%
Baltimore, MD	$237,300	5.5%	10,493	9.4%
Denver, CO	$243,900	8.0%	7,827	-3.8%
Pittsburgh, PA	$121,000	7.2%	11,678	9.0%
Portland, OR	$260,500	10.9%	7,067	9.1%
Sacramento, CA	$306,200	21.8%	3,929	26.0%
San Antonio, TX	$146,600	2.3%	8,023	-13.6%
Orlando, FL	$155,200	19.8%	9,168	22.0%
Cincinnati, OH	$131,900	4.1%	9,925	1.3%
Cleveland, OH	$115,700	1.4%	11,527	-3.5%
Kansas City, MO	$139,100	2.8%	9,551	-1.4%
Las Vegas, NV	$168,800	26.9%	8,412	42.8%
San Jose, CA	$744,800	14.5%	1,764	-5.9%
Columbus, OH	$137,300	7.7%	8,965	1.8%
Charlotte, NC	$147,600	6.0%	10,406	8.4%
Austin, TX	$201,500	7.0%	4,330	-12.8%
Virginia Beach, VA	$206,200	3.6%	11,184	15.3%