The demand for residential real estate, while nudging down, remained elevated heading into fall. Competition is softening slightly, and prices are still high—that's according to the housing market report [1] from Redfin.com [2]measuring a number of market indicators based on data from 400 major metros from August.
"More homes were listed this summer, but they were quickly snatched up by homebuyers even as bidding wars have become more rare," said Redfin Lead Economist Taylor Marr. "The market hasn't cooled off any further than it usually does this time of year, and we expect homebuying demand to remain strong through the fall."
Redfin analyst Tim Ellis summed up [3] key takeaways from the report:
- The median home-sale price increased 14% year over year to $358,250.
- Asking prices of newly listed homes were up 10% from the same time a year ago to a median of $353,500, on par with where asking prices were in late April. This was down 2% from the all-time high set during the four-week period ending June 27.
- New listings of homes for sale were down 7% from a year earlier. The number of homes being listed is in a typical seasonal decline, down 16% from the 2021 peak reached during the four-week period ending June 27.
- Active listings (the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period) fell 23% from 2020. Active listings were up 14% from their 2021 low set during the four-week period ending March 7, but have declined 3% from their 2021 peak hit during the four-week period ending August 8.
- 47% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market, above the 43% rate of a year earlier, but down 9 percentage points from the 2021 peak set during the four-week period ending March 28.
- 34% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within one week of hitting the market, up from 31% during the same period a year earlier, but down 9 percentage points from the 2021 peak reached during the four-week period ending March 28.
- Homes that sold were on the market for a median of 19 days, up from the all-time low of 15 days seen in late June and July, and down from 33 days a year earlier.
- 50% of homes sold above list price, up from 33% a year earlier. This measure has been falling since the four-week period ending July 11, when it peaked at 55%.
- On average, 4.9% of homes for sale each week had a price drop, up 0.8 percentage points from the same time in 2020, and the highest level since the four-week period ending October 13, 2019.
- The average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, decreased to 101.4%. In other words, the average home sold for 1.4% above its asking price. This measure was down 0.9 percentage points from its peak hit during the four-week period ending July 11 and up 2.1 percentage points from a year earlier.
The robust sellers' market has led to record levels of home equity, according to an earlier report [4]. This growth could be a lifeline for borrowers in one of 629,000 forbearance plans [5] slated to be reviewed for extension or removal this month, 400,000 of those set to reach their final plan expirations based on established allowable forbearance term lengths in September.
Redfin's full housing report from August is available at Redfin.com/news [3].