Data from Redfin showed that the median home-sale price increased 17% year-over-year to an all-time high of $338,225. Additionally, the company reported that 59% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market, yet another all-time high since the company began tracking this measure in 2012. While these numbers are impressive, Redfin notes that these numbers do not necessarily reflect how the housing market has changed over the past year, due to the fact that this time last year, stay-at-home orders pretty much halted both home-buying and selling activity.
"The housing market is more competitive than we've ever seen it, but a couple indicators are causing us to ask whether we're nearing a peak in terms of how fast demand and prices can grow," said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. "Sellers' asking prices may be starting to flatten in what so far appears to follow a typical seasonal pattern. And the drop in mortgage purchase applications tells me that some buyers are dropping out due to the lack of affordable homes for sale. If these trends continue we can feel more assured that we are not in the midst of runaway home price speculation or a housing bubble."
According to the report, asking prices of newly listed homes rose 16% year-over-year to $351,851, an all-time high. However, asking prices of newly listed homes were flat from the four-week period ending March 28. Pending home sales are up 47% from the same period in 2020 and up 24% from the same period in 2019.
Additionally, 42% of homes sold for more than their list price, an all-time high. This is 16 percentage points higher than the same period a year earlier, and 20 points higher than the same period in 2019. Also, the average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, increased to 100.5%, an all-time high and 2 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
Click here to read more from the Redfin report.
