Per Realtor Magazine, the following metro areas have seen the largest drops in inventories of for-sale homes in the past year (July 2012 compared to July 2011):

1. Oakland, California -59.30%

2. Fresno, California.: -47.81 %

3. Bakersfield, California -44.71 %

4. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Washington -42.23 %

5. San Jose, California -41.76 %

6. San Francisco, California -40.26 %

7. Stockton-Lodi, California -40.24 %

8. Riverside-San Bernardino, California -40.03 %

9. Atlanta, Georgia -38.27 %

10. Sacramento, California -36.43 %

11. Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc, California -34.89 %

12. San Diego, California -34.55 %

13. Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona -34.37 %