Home sellers are slashing prices at a record pace as buyer activity falls off, Redfin reported. The median asking price for newly-listed homes saw decreased acceleration, rising 15% YOY. It is down 1.5% from its all-time high, which it hit in May. At the same time, a record share of sellers cut their asking price in the four-week period ending June 26. Pending home sales saw their biggest drop since May 2020, as evidence emerges that buyer demand is beginning to cool. But Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather says buyers aren’t done yet. Instead, they’re noticing “the shift in power, and are no longer leaving the market in droves.” That is, buyers are seeing that sellers are losing the upper…
Americans are paying top dollar to live in areas prone to devastating environmental disasters, with home prices soaring in these locations. A new report from real estate publication Home Bay found that home prices are increasing at a higher rate than the national median in the areas most impacted by climate change. Home sales prices are up 167% in metros within states that have had at least 50 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster declarations since 2012. By comparison, the national median increase is only 113%. FEMA ranks California, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina as the states with the highest risk for homeowners– that is, the states that are most likely to have disasters that threaten buildings, people, and…
Mortgage loan application volume rose slightly by 0.7% last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly survey shows. The adjusted Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased by 0.7%. The adjusted purchase index rose 0.1%, while the unadjusted purchase index fell by 21% and was 24% lower YOY. The refinance index rose by 2% and made up 30.3% of total applications, down 80% from the same time last year. ARM activity fell to 10.1% of total applications. “Mortgage rates continue to experience large swings. After increasing 65 basis points during the past three weeks, the 30-year fixed rate declined 14 basis points last week to 5.84%,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and…
Soaring interest rates pushed homebuyer demand down in its largest annual decline in more than two years, Redfin reported. Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index was down 16% YOY, its largest drop since April 2020, in response to lagging inventory and skyrocketing mortgage rates. Last week, rates jumped a full half-point in the largest one-week increase in the history of Freddie Mac’s weekly rate survey, which dates back to 1987. This week they’re up to 5.81%. At the same time, pending home sales were down 10% YOY, the largest decline since May 2020. Home prices are moderating slightly, but still elevated. The average size of a purchase loan application was $420,000, down from a peak of $460,000. In 2019, the average loan…
Bidding wars dropped to their lowest level since February 2021 as the housing market begins to cool, with only 57.8% of home offers facing competition in May, according to Redfin. Though more than half of prospective buyers are still facing competition when bidding on a home, that number is down from 60.9% the month prior and a pandemic peak of 68.8% a year earlier. A typical home received 5.3 offers in May, down from 6.8 in April and 7.4 in YOY. This is the fourth straight month of declines. The unadjusted bidding war rate was 60.8%, down from 67.8% month-over-month and 71.8% YOY. “Homes are now getting one to three offers, compared with five to 10 two months ago and…
Construction of single-family homes fell across several market types in Q1 2022, with an especially large dip in large suburban markets, according to the National Association of Home Builder’s (NAHB) Home Building Geography Index (HBGI). Four-quarter moving average single-family growth rates in large metro suburban counties fell from 18.7% in Q1 2021 to 5.2% in Q1 2022. At the same time, multifamily construction in large metros has jumped after falling during the pandemic. Large metro core counties recovered from a negative 3.6% growth rate to a 17.4% rate. Multifamily construction was largely centered in large metro core areas (36.9% of development), followed by large metro suburbs (25.8%), small metro core areas (23.5%), and other submarkets (13.7%). “Single-family growth rates have…
Only 17% of consumers believe it’s a good time to purchase a home as rising interest rates and high home prices push many buyers out of the market, according to Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index. The May HPSI fell by 0.3 points, remaining relatively steady, but continues to move closer to its 10-year low of 63, recorded in April 2020. The full index is down 11.8 points YOY. Affordability was the main concern of the consumers surveyed. The “Good Time to Buy” indicator dropped to a new low, with 79% of respondents saying it’s a bad time to buy a home. The majority of respondents also said they expect mortgage rates to continue rising in the next twelve months. A…
Seller-buyers are making a splash this spring, with 72% of home sellers also planning to buy their next one this year, according to a new survey from Realtor.com. Realtor partnered with HarrisX to survey homeowners nationwide. The results showed a market flooded with younger seller-buyers looking for more affordable homes to accommodate growing families. Millennials are the most active seller-buyers in the market (47%). Gen Z, the youngest market-ready cohort, came in second at 25%, followed by Gen X (15%) and Baby Boomers (12%). Most seller-buyers said they planned to buy a home first, then list their current home (46%), the choice that offers the most flexibility. Another 44% said they plan to sell and buy at the same time,…
More home shoppers are searching out-of-market in Q1 2022, according to a new report from Realtor.com. Realtor.com looked at data from its website on where prospective buyers are searching for homes to identify migration patterns. In Q1 2022, 59.7% of Realtor.com listing page views came from shoppers looking for homes in metros other than where they live. This was up 1.9% from Q4 2021 and 4.6% YOY. Pageviews in areas with relatively lower median listing prices rose. Regions with warmer climates that have historically been inexpensive are the most popular search areas. Southern and Sun Belt markets are especially attractive to out-of-market and out-of-state viewers. Realtor.com shoppers in the Northeast were the most likely to look at listings in other…
As homebuyer demographics change, Millennials and Gen Z are set to play a major role in the housing market this year, according to a new report from ServiceLink. ServiceLink’s 2022 State of Homebuying Report uses information from 1,000 homeowners who purchased a home in the last five years to analyze generational trends in homebuying. The report found that Millennials and Gen Z are making big moves in the housing market and are open to non-traditional routes to homeownership. “As bidding wars, low inventory and rising interest rates continue to intensify the competition, buyers have had to get creative in order to come out ahead in this challenging real estate market,” said Dave Steinmetz, president of origination services, ServiceLink. “Our study…
