As a realtor and investor my observation is the lack of building and previous reliance on Reo inventory has caused a serious shortage of properties in the low and middle end.

Just FYI provide by GMAR with less than 3 weeks left in 2013.Please see Counties attachment :~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, Ozaukee, Walworth,Waukesha, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and etcHopefully data might provide some guidelines oncurrent and past inventory levels.Regardless have nice holidays and New Year.Just FYI provide by GMAR( traditional and investment purchases )

Hi Jim,My husband and I are investors in Austin and have begun flipping houses because the inventory is so short right now.

There isn't much inventory besides in the bad areas of the town.

We issue new tax reduction requests on new inventory every January.

Here in Colorado there j s very low inventory and houses average only 4 days on the market.

So you have a ton of buyers chasing limited inventory.

Check Craigslist on how much inventory is in that market.

I'm told that the inventory has gone down a lot in the last 8 months or so, the sale-to-asking price ratio is pretty high (around 97%), and properties have appreciated around 35% over the last year.

My agent friends say they're not moving inventory (they confirm what I'm observing) - odd for this time of year.