You might want to prepare your buyer clients for a tough search, according to a new report by realtor.com. The listings site ranked the city among the most difficult in the country to find a home in terms of available inventory.

Realtor.com analyzed the density of listings in each market relative to available housing stock and compared that to active listings in the market per 1,000 households.

The report identified the Boston metro area as the 9th worst in the nation in terms of listing availability. According to the report, the Boston metro area only had 8.4 listings per 1,000 households in the area as of January 2020.

That’s a 23 percent decline from a year ago. Realtor.com put the median price of a home in the Boston area at $590,000, up 10 percent from January 2019.

That’s compared to the national average of 16 listings per 1,000 homes, according to the report.

Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale said in a press release that the ease of finding a home doesn’t necessarily mean the market is struggling. “Buyers searching in easier markets generally benefit from a combination of strong availability of homes for-sale and, with some exceptions, healthy, yet more moderate price growth,” she said.