This chart explains everything that's wrong with the housing market
Instead of too many people buying homes they can't afford, there simply aren't enough homes available for people that want them. This is causing prices to go up and keeping would-be new homebuyers out of the market.
Michelle Meyer, US economist for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, laid out the problem in one succinct chart.
"The housing market remains tight - this is evident in the number of months of supply or the number of days that homes are on the market for sale," wrote Meyer in a note to clients. "The limited supply of homes has kept upward pressure on home prices and rents, stretching affordability and making it more challenging to achieve homeownership."
The chart shows that not only is housing in short supply, but those that do make it to market are being gobbled up at an incredibly fast pace.
"A publicly released survey conducted by our own lending group - Bank of America Homebuyer Insights Report - shows these dynamics," continued Meyer. "The survey found that although more first-time buyers aspire to buy a home in the highly priced markets, a greater percentage report a delay given affordability concerns."
In fact, based on the survey, three of the six housing markets BAML measured are already above their pre-crisis home price highs (San Francisco, Seattle and Boston are above while Los Angeles, New York and Washington DC have not quite gotten there).
Also with housing starts disappointing last Tuesday, it doesn't seem as if the problem is correcting itself quickly.