Redfin Reports Home Prices Rise to All-Time High
The median home sale price rose 15% year over year as the number of homes for sale fell to an all-time low
The median home sale price rose 15% year over year to an all-time high of $360,500 during the four-week period ending December 19, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage.
Pending sales rose 0.1%, the smallest year-over-year increase since June 2020. Sales activity is constricted by supply, not demand; the number of homes for sale fell 26% to an all-time low.
“As the number of homes for sale drops to a new all-time low every week, homebuyers have a sense that the well is running dry,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “Fewer homes are selling because of a lack of supply, while demand remains strong. That’s why home prices continue to climb higher and higher. But once mortgage rates increase in 2022, I expect the rate of price growth to slow down significantly.”
Key housing market takeaways for 400+ U.S. metro areas:
Unless otherwise noted, this data covers the four-week period ending December 19. Redfin’s housing market data goes back through 2012.
- The median asking price of newly listed homes increased 14% year over year to $347,475, up 29% from 2019.
- Pending home sales were up 0.1% year over year, and up 46% compared to the same period in 2019.
- New listings of homes for sale were down 9% from a year earlier, but up 11% from 2019, marking the largest two-year increase since September.
- Active listings (the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period) fell 26% year over year to an all-time low, and were down 45% from 2019.
- The share of homes that went under contract that had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market was 42%, above the 36% rate of a year earlier and the 25% rate in 2019.
- 31% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within one week of hitting the market, up from 26% during the same period a year earlier and 16% in 2019.
- Homes that sold were on the market for a median of 26 days, down from 32 days a year earlier and 48 days in 2019.
- 43% of homes sold above list price, up from 34% a year earlier and 20% in 2019.
- On average, 3% of homes for sale each week had a price drop, up 0.5 percentage points from the same time in 2020 and up 0.3 points from this time in 2019.
- The average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, was 100.4%. In other words, the average home sold for 0.4% above its asking price.
Other leading indicators of homebuying activity:
- Mortgage purchase applications decreased 3% week over week (seasonally adjusted) during the week ending December 17. For the week ending December 16, 30-year mortgage rates inched up to 3.12%.
- Touring activity through December 19 was 2 percentage points behind 2019 and 9 points behind 2020 relative to the first week of January according to home tour technology company ShowingTime.
- The Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index fell 4% during the week ending December 19 and was up 14% from a year earlier.
To view the full report, including charts and methodology, please visit:
https://www.redfin.com/news/housing-market-update-home-prices-record-december/
About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate company. We help people find a place to live with brokerage, instant home-buying (iBuying), rentals, lending, title insurance, and renovations services. We sell homes for more money and charge half the fee. We also run the country’s #1 real-estate brokerage site. Our home-buying customers see homes first with on-demand tours, and our lending and title services help them close quickly. Customers selling a home can take an instant cash offer from Redfin or have our renovations crew fix up their home to sell for top dollar. Our rentals business empowers millions nationwide to find apartments and houses for rent. Since launching in 2006, we’ve saved customers more than $1 billion in commissions. We serve more than 100 markets across the U.S. and Canada and employ over 6,000 people.
