Redfin’s latest report found that new home listings increased nearly 8% year over year in the last month of 2024, though pending home sales posted a small decline as mortgage rates remained near 7%.
Homebuying activity slowed in the four weeks ending on December 29, which is typical during the holiday and winter months. Home listings sat on the market for almost a week longer compared to last December, providing a temporary boost to the supply of homes for sale.
New Home Listings
New listings increased 7.7% from last year during the four weeks ending December 29, while the total number of homes for sale rose 9.7% to 905,822.
Metros that had the biggest increase in new listings include San Francisco, Calif. (48%), Oakland, Calif. (36.6%), Seattle, Wash. (21.6%), Virginia Beach, Va. (21.6%), and San Jose, Calif. (21.5%).
Conversely, the metro with the largest decline in new listings were San Antonio, Texas (-12.7%), Detroit, Mich. (-9.5%), Austin, Texas (-8.4%), Orlando, Fla. (-6.2%), and Nassau County, NY (-4.6%).
However, pending home sales fell by 1.1% in December 2024 compared to the same month last year. Metros that had the biggest increase in pending sales include Detroit, Mich. (11.9%), Anaheim, Calif. (10.4%), New Brunswick, NJ (7.5%), San Francisco, Calif. (7.3%), and Los Angeles, Calif. (4.7%).
Homes spent a median of 47 days on the market before being sold, which is six days longer compared to the previous year. Meanwhile the share of homes being taken off the market within two weeks fell from 26% in December 2023 to 23.7% in December 2024.
Currently, there is 4.2 months of supply on the nationwide housing market, which Redfin considers balanced since it's within the 4-to-5 month range. Fewer months of supply would indicate sellers’ market conditions.
Pricing Conditions
The nationwide median sale price increased 6.4% from last year to $383,750 in December 2024, marking the biggest increase since October 2022. The share of homes that sold above listing price was 22.9%, down from 24% during the same period last year.
Metros with biggest year-over-year increases in median sale price were Milwaukee, Wisc.(17.4%), Cleveland, Ohio (14.3%), Philadelphia, Penn. (13.5%), Chicago, Ill. (11.9%), and Nassau County, NY (11.8%).
Median monthly mortgage payment in December 2024 was $2,515 at a 6.91% mortgage rate, marking an 8.1% increase from the previous year.
