It sure feels like it, Glenn. It seems that every transaction has to get bank approval nowadays.

FWIW, instead of the chart you are showing here — listings — it would be more interesting to see a chart of what actually sold in November broken out by lender-owned, short sale and sellers-with-equity.

It’s worth nothing that Redfin does not work in any really troubled markets. LA and San Diego both benefit to a degree from the kinds of geographical limitations and land-use restrictions that are proving to be such a boon in San Francisco. (There is an argument that the surging prices caused by limited new housing supplies in the Southland is the actual genesis of the housing boom.) If you have access to the same quality of data on Sacramento, we’ll learn a lot more.

And: For the benefit of inlookers: While Redfin’s software tools are without doubt exactingly precise, MLS listings are not. Few short sales and lender-owned homes will be miscast as being sold by sellers-with-equity, but many, many short sales, especially, will be misrepresented as being normal transactions. There is no way to correct for this except by making a lot of phone calls.