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Dawn Wotapka of DOW JONES NEWSWIRE

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Housing inventory, which typically dips as the summer ends, rose for the ninth straight month in September, indicating that sales remain weak as the downturn drags on.

Listings for single-family homes, condos, townhomes and other residences in 26 major metro markets spiked 13.5% from a year earlier, reports ZipRealty Inc., a real-estate brokerage firm based in Emeryville, Calif. When compared with a month earlier, September's inventory rose 0.6%, according to data pulled from local multiple-listing services on Friday.

In addition to sluggish sales, the increase comes from lenders dumping foreclosed homes on the market, short sale offers and sellers who can no longer wait, says Leslie Tyler, ZipRealty's vice president of marketing. To continue reading please visit the Wall Street Journal