Is this inventory issue a new one? 

Nope!

It's been sneaking up on us for YEARS now!

We haven't had PLENTY of homes on the market for years and we're JUST NOW all of a sudden seeing that drop off.

The number of homes on the market at any given time has been declining for years. 

Thus, the only way to have not been in the situation we are in now (very, very few homes for sale) would have been if many new homes had been built over the past four to five years.

Some homes were built, but not enough.

Now, It will, unfortunately, take a long time (likely years) for our market to dig its way back out of this housing inventory crisis.

The many new home communities in the planning or building stages will help -- but hundreds or thousands of new homes don't pop up over night.