Home Listings Suddenly Surge…

(Bloomberg) — The housing slowdown is helping to solve the US real estate market’s most intractable problem: tight inventory.Most Read from BloombergWith fewer buyers competing, the number of active US listings jumped 18.7% in June from a year earlier, the largest annual increase in data going back to 2017, Realtor.com said in a report Thursday. And new sellers entered the market at an even faster rate than before the pandemic housing rally began.The Federal Reserve is cooling off the red-hot housing market as it fights to curb inflation by driving up interest rates. The resulting spike in mortgage costs is making homes less affordable and pushing would-be buyers to the sidelines. That means properties aren’t selling as quickly and must compete with the growing number of new offerings.For shoppers still on the hunt, the inventory bump is good news, though challenges finding affordable listings remain in many markets.“While we anticipate that more inventory will eventually co …