With all the good news coming out about the current real estate market - improving home prices, fewer foreclosures, low mortgage rates - there is one ominous threat to this year's recovery: Inventory. RE/MAX released numbers for July and August 2012 that indicate the inventory levels are falling. July saw a 5.4 percent fall from June, and 26.8 percent from July 2011.

“Inventory is now becoming a serious challenge to this recovering market," said Margaret Kelly, RE/MAX CEO. "Home sales could be much greater if more inventory was available, especially in the lower price range, where most sales are now occurring.”

Home sales were up 10.3% from July 2011, while the average days a home was on market sold in July was 82 (a drop from previous months).

In Echo Park, 25 properties are listed currently at a median price of $569,440, a 21% increase in prices year over year. In comparison, Highland Park has about the same number of homes on the market, but a much lower median price at $440,276.