More than half of homes that went on the market in the United States earlier this month had an offer within the first two weeks, according to a new report released by Redfin.
The report found that 55 percent of houses locked in an offer within two weeks for the week ending January 24. Over the last month, 43 percent of homes had an offer in two weeks – well above the 35 percent rate last year at this time.
“Buyers are incredibly hungry for listings, but unfortunately there isn’t much to choose from, and that scarcity is making buyers all the more frenzied,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather said. “As a result, the majority of the homes that hit the market are getting multiple offers right away. Not only do you have to be fast to win a home, you have to be prepared and resourceful.”
The report also found:
- The median home sale price in the United States increased 15 percent year over year to $318,280.
- Pending home sales were up 30 percent year over year.
- New listings of homes for sale were down 12 percent from a year earlier—the largest decline since May.
- Active listings (the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period) fell 35 percent from 2020 to a new all-time low.
- The average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, increased slightly to 99.3 percent – 1.6 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
“Now that the end of the pandemic is in sight, people will gradually start listing homes for sale,” Seattle Redfin real estate agent Scott Petrich said. “And once more companies and workplaces start calling employees back to the office, some homebuyer demand will shift back toward apartments and townhomes. Right now, all the pressure is on single-family, suburban homes.”