Hot Towns, Low Inventories

Yesterday I wondered why there seemed to be so few houses for sale in the hot vacation-home towns listed by the Wall Street Journal. June Fletcher, who wrote the WSJ article, suggests a reason: "One characteristic common to most hot markets is low inventory. Fewer houses means fewer choices, and the greater likelihood of bidding wars. That pushes up prices even more." I wouldn't be surprised if her article sent a flock of speculators to Brigantine, NJ. It was third on the hot list, yet median price (4th Q 2004) of a single-family house was only $358,500. Bet it won't be that low for long.