Home Prices Jump By A Record 17 Percent, Pending Sales Up 19 Percent YOY

The median home-sale price increased by 17% year-over-year to $328,350. This marks an all-time high according to a report from Redfin. It is also the largest increase on record in the company's dataset that dates back to 2016.

Additionally, the report states that pending home sales were up 19% year-over-year and up 3% from the four-week period ending Feb. 7. In the two weeks since pending sales dipped during the winter storms over the 7-day period ending Feb. 21, the weekly number of pending sales is up 17%, according to Redfin.

Asking prices for newly-listed homes also hit a new all-time high of $349,975, up 10% year-over-year.

"Sellers' asking prices have marched upward every week this year. Buyers have learned that if they aren't aggressive enough one week, they will have to bid higher on a home that's listed the following week," said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. "This super competitive housing market has been fueled by rock-bottom mortgage rates, so home prices should start to grow at a slower rate as mortgage rates tick up."

Redfin also reported that 56% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market, above the 45% rate during the same period in 2020. This is another new all-time high for this measure since at least 2012 (as far back as Redfin's data for this measure goes). During the 7-day period ending March 7, 59% of homes sold in two weeks or less.

Meanwhile, mortgage purchase applications increased 7% week over week (seasonally adjusted) and were up 2% from a year earlier (unadjusted) during the week ending March 5. For the week ending March 11, 30-year mortgage rates increased to 3.05%, the highest level since July.‍

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