US homes for sale drop in some cities

The number of homes for sale in April hit a 6.6-month supply, down from 9.1 months a year ago, according to a National Association of Realtors report.

A six-month supply is considered a healthy market. Some markets have fallen below that. Last month, nine of 18 leading markets tracked by real estate brokerage Redfin had less than a three-month supply. That means it would have taken three months to sell all of the listed homes at April's sales pace.

Number of homes for sale in 50 top markets and change from a year ago:

Those markets included the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Denver and Washington, D.C. A year ago, only Phoenix had such a low inventory, Redfin's data show.

"Multiple offers are definitely the norm," says Rick Turley, president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage for the San Francisco Bay Area. At one point this month, 80% of the properties that his agents were working to buy or sell had multiple offers, Turley says.

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