As sellers are forced to adjust to the housing market’s new normal, more affordable inventory is cropping up.
The share of available homes in the $200,000 to $350,000 price range saw the biggest growth of any price category in February, up 20.6% YOY, Realtor.com reported.
Though inventory remains tight, money-minded buyers may see an uptick in affordable homes as they shop this spring.
Inventory overall saw a boost last month, with the number of homes actively for sale on a typical day up 14.8% from last year.
This is the fourth straight month of annual inventory growth.
“The first couple of months of 2024 have proven to be positive for inventory levels, as the number of homes actively for sale…
Listings are down more than 15% from last year, another pain point on the market ahead of the typically zippy spring buying season.
HouseCanary’s February Market Pulse Report found that net new listings were 15.3% lower than in February 2023. Overall, inventory is up 11.7% YOY but remains generally constrained, limiting new activity.
This is yet another example of market pressures as spring approaches, usually a busy homebuying season.
“In January, we saw net new listings and contract volumes trend at multi-year seasonal lows. Although those metrics are slightly up versus last month, the housing market is still facing significant pressures. The Federal Reserve has all but confirmed that rates will continue to hover around the 7% mark, continuing to…
Existing-home sales rebounded from a December plummet in January, increasing month-over-month, but not annually.
Sales increased by 3.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.00 million, according to the latest data from the National Association of Realtors. They were down 1.7% from the same time last year, however.
The Midwest, West, and South all saw sales increase, while the Northeast held steady but didn’t decline.
This is a turnaround from December, which saw existing sales shrink to their lowest point since 1995.
“While home sales remain sizably lower than a couple of years ago, January’s monthly gain is the start of more supply and demand,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Listings were modestly higher, and home buyers are…
Existing-home sales increased for the first time in five months as falling rates made homebuying more affordable.
Sales rose by 0.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.82 million, according to the latest data from the National Association of Realtors.
While this is a clear improvement from past months, year-over-year sales are down 7.3%, and NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun notes the data is still impacted by the sky-high mortgage rates of the past few months.
“The latest weakness in existing home sales still reflects the buyer bidding process in most of October when mortgage rates were at a two-decade high before the actual closings in November,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “A marked turn can be expected…
Monthly payments are going up as mortgage rates continue to climb but a boost in new listings could signal a fall price cooldown.
Rates have soared to their highest level in more than two decades, sending monthly housing payments to record highs. A buyer with a $3,000 monthly budget has lost almost $40,000 in purchasing power YOY as rates rose from 6.5% to nearly 8% today, according to a new analysis from Redfin.
This is exacerbated by stagnant home inventory, which continues to trend down as stock shortages are keeping home prices high even as competition peters out. The total number of homes for sale is down 14%, Redfin noted.
The typical home sold for $371,000 during the four weeks…
As high rates keep sellers locked in their current homes, new homes are making up an increasing share of the market.
Newly built homes made up almost a third of all single-family homes on the market in Q2 2023 (31.4%), according to a new report from Redfin.
This is up 30.3% YOY and almost double the share from Q2 2019 (17%). It’s a new record for any second quarter in Redfin’s data, though not the highest share ever.
In fact, it’s down from Q1 2023’s share of 33.6%, though Redfin notes the decline follows a normal seasonal trend of new home shares peaking in the winter.
Though builders have slowed home construction, no longer producing the same inventory they did…
Despite being the largest cohort of potential homebuyers in the country, Millennials are lagging behind other generations in purchases.
That applies to Baby Boomers now – who are snatching up the few homes for sale thanks to home equity and greater savings – and Boomers when they were the same age as Millennials today. Just over 50% of Millennials owned a home in 2022, compared with 56.5% of Boomers in 1990 and 58.2% of Gen X in 2006.
Even the youngest generation, Gen Z, is tracking ahead of Millennials in homeownership at the same age.
A combination of forces has made it difficult for Millennials to become homeowners. Ongoing bouts of economic uncertainty in 2001, 2008, and today have hindered…
At the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting, the Central Bank hinted at a pause in rate hikes as soon as June but still increased the benchmark rate by a quarter-point. Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, found that puzzling.
During the “Residential Economic Issues & Trends Forum” at NAR’s 2023 REALTORS Legislative Meeting, he called the increase unnecessary and stressed further increases harm the housing market and the economy at large.
Inventory, not interest rates, is the driving force behind the current housing market. Stock remains down 40% compared to 2019, while demand keeps growing.
“We have to stop the bleeding before improvement takes place,” Yun said. “We need to get more inventory, and the…
New listings continue to trend down as rate lock-in and affordability concerns keep homeowners stuck in their current living situation.
HouseCanary’s latest Market Pulse report found that net new listings fell by double digits for the tenth straight month in February.
The report, which analyzed twenty-two metrics pulled from listing information between February 2022 and February 2023, found that 157,967 net new listings went up last month, down 43.6% YOY.
Properties that went under contract also fell, totaling only 247,294, a 17% decrease YOY.
New listings drove net volume down, falling 31.7%, combined with a 72.6% rise in removals.
Median days on the market were up 48.3% YOY to 43 days. However, days on the market fell month-over-month by nearly…
Existing-home sales dropped for the eighth straight month in September, down 1.5% from August and 23.8% YOY, according to the most recent data from the National Association of Realtors. Sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.71 million and declined in three of the four major regions. The West saw no change. “Despite weaker sales, multiple offers are still occurring with more than a quarter of homes selling above list price due to limited inventory,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “The current lack of supply underscores the vast contrast with the previous major market downturn from 2008 to 2010, when inventory levels were four times higher than they are today.” Inventory of unsold homes fell 2.3% from…
