[Travis Munroe]

For the last month or 2 I have consistently said that it will take a few months before we can really point to any trends that may be related to the fall in oil.

Over the duration of my career, January has always been a pretty slow month where I continue to prepare for the coming year with marketing material, research on new tech, etc. Not the case this year. I have way more buyers and sellers than usual this time around & I should have another 2-3 listings on the market before the end of the month. None of which are related to the fall in oil.

As with the last "recession", if you sell your house and lose 5% compared to what it was worth the year before - you need to buy a new house and you will save 5%.
If prices skyrocket and are 10% higher then chances are you sold your house for 10% more.
If you sell your house now and go rent until prices hit the bottom to get a good deal, factor in your moving costs, rental costs, etc and find out if the 5% you saved on your new purchase was really worth it.

I use 5% as a generic number/ (my prediction) as nobody knows what will happen

The simple answer to your question is that inventory is always high this time of year as it stockpiles from the previous year. It may be even higher this time around as sellers want to sell and get into something new but buyers who are not selling are being a bit more picky in what they want and the timing of when they want to buy.