The pace of the home sales nationwide is picking up at a time when it typically slows, thanks to the severe imbalance between the number of homes for sale and the number of buyers, a new report shows.
The report by Redfin, the technology-powered real estate brokerage, found that 44% more homes are pending sale than at this time in 2019, but only 3% more homes recently hit the market, down from 12% growth over 2019 just seven weeks prior.
A third of homes are finding buyers within just a week of hitting the market, up from 30.8% at the end of the summer, Redfin said.
The company said it is comparing today's market with the pre-pandemic fall market of 2019 to highlight how hot the market remains, even as most measures are settling into typical seasonal patterns.
"Comparing today's sales and new listings numbers to the 2019 levels helps to reveal the stark shortage of supply we are facing," said Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr. "The boost of housing supply that came on the market during the summer has already faded away, even as demand tapers off as we expected it to in the fall.”
Marr said that, compared to the last “typical” fall of 2019, “demand remains steady and strong, thanks to the increased urgency many buyers have as mortgage rates inch up.” Marr said rising rates also make buyers more price sensitive, “so homes that are priced right are increasingly likely to receive offers right away."
The data used for comparison in the report covers the four-week period ending Oct. 17, Redfin said.
According to the report, the median home-sale price increased 13% year over year to $355,875. That was up 29% from the same period in 2019.
Asking prices for newly listed homes rose 12% from the same time a year ago, but were up 26% from 2019 to a median of $362,335. Redfin said. That was still down 1% from the all-time high set during the four-week period ending October 3. Asking prices typically increase in September and then begin to decline in October through the end of the year.
Pending home sales were up 3% year over year, and up 47% compared to the same period in 2019, which was a more typical year in terms of seasonality for sales and listings.
New listings of homes for sale were down 8% from a year earlier, but were up 5% compared to 2019. Active listings fell 22% from 2020, and were down 40% from 2019.
Of the homes under contract, 46% had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market, above the 42% rate of a year earlier and the 31% rate in 2019, Redfin said. Further, 33% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within one week of hitting the market, up from 30% during the same period a year earlier and 20% in 2019.
Homes that sold were on the market for a median of 22 days, a full week longer than the all-time low of 15 days seen in late June and July, and down from 32 days a year earlier and 44 days in 2019.
