Redfin’s Tim Ellis published a Housing Market Update in which he notes the key housing market takeaways for 400+ U.S. Metro areas.
“The housing market’s temperature may be starting to drop by a degree or two. Both pending sales and asking prices began to decline or flatten in the four weeks ending May 30. It’s too soon to tell if these are early seasonal changes or the start of the post-pandemic cooldown we predicted earlier this year. The period in question includes the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, which this year marked a return to “normal” life. It may also have marked the beginning of a return to a more “normal” housing market. We should know more as we continue to track the latest data over the next few weeks.”
Indicators of last month’s history-making housing market:
- A record-high median home sale price of $355,558, up a record 24% year over year.
- A record high of 52% of homes sold for more than their list price, up from 26% the same period a year earlier.
- A record-high 102.0% average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices. This means that the average home sold for 2.0% more than its asking price. A year ago, it sold for 1.5% below asking.
- A record low of 16 days on market for homes that sold during the period, down from 37 days from the same period in 2020.
Early indicators that the housing market may be starting to soften:
Each of the metrics highlighted in the following list set a new housing record going back at least as far as 2012, when Redfin’s data began.
- Pending home sales fell 3% from the four-week period ending May 2, compared to a 2% increase over the same period in 2019. Compared to 2020, they are up 38%.
- Asking prices fell $2,500 from the four-week period ending May 23 to a median of $354,975, up 11% from the same period in 2020.
- New listings of homes for sale were down 8% from the same period in 2019, and are down 5% from the 2021 high, which was set during the four-week period ending May 2. During the same period in 2019, new listings fell 2%.
- Active listings (the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period) fell 37% from the same period in 2020.