Redfin Reports Near-Record Housing Costs Put a Lid on Pending Sales, Even as Early-Stage Demand Picks Up
House hunters are touring homes and applying for mortgages as rates stay below 7%, but prospective buyers aren’t always following through with a purchase
The typical U.S. homebuyer’s monthly housing payment is $2,793, just a few dollars shy of the all-time high, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. Housing payments are sky-high because sale prices keep rising and mortgage rates remain high.
The median home-sale price rose 3.3% year over year during the four weeks ending March 16, and the weekly average mortgage rate is 6.65%, its lowest level since mid-December but still more than double pandemic-era lows.
Lack of affordability is suppressing homebuyer demand, even as we get tantalizingly close to spring. Pending home sales are down 5.2%, on par with the annual declines Redfin has seen for the last two months.
But there are signals that house hunters are stepping off the sidelines, even if they’re not following through with a purchase yet. Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index—a seasonally adjusted measure of home tours and other buying services from Redfin agents—hit its highest level in three months, and ShowingTime data shows that home tours are rising faster this year than in 2024. Additionally, seasonally adjusted mortgage-purchase applications are sitting at their highest level in six weeks. Rising demand could translate into an improvement in pending sales in the coming months, especially if mortgage rates decline more. Rates could decline if inflation eases and we see stronger evidence of weak economic data that point toward a recession.
“Some prospective buyers and sellers are still waiting for rates to drop and others are holding off because they’re worried about the economy and losing their job. But others are jumping back in because it’s clear the market isn’t going back to where it was in 2020,” said Heather Mahmood-Corley, a Redfin Premier agent in Phoenix. “Overall, it feels more like a buyer’s market than a seller’s market. I’m telling sellers their home needs to look like a model house, and it probably needs to be priced lower than they think. Even though costs are high, it’s not a bad time to buy: For listings that sit on the market a long time, many buyers are able to successfully negotiate.”
On the supply side, new listings are up 5.5% year over year, the biggest increase in six weeks.
For Redfin economists’ takes on the housing market, please visit Redfin’s “From Our Economists” page.
Key housing-market data
| U.S. highlights: Four weeks ending March 16, 2025 Redfin’s national metrics include data from 400+ U.S. metro areas, and are based on homes listed and/or sold during the period. Weekly housing-market data goes back through 2015. Subject to revision. | |||
| Four weeks ending March 16, 2025 | Year-over-year change | Notes | |
| Median sale price | $383,475 | 3.3% | |
| Median asking price | $423,500 | 6.6% | |
| Median monthly mortgage payment | $2,793 at a 6.65% mortgage rate | 4.8% | $6 shy of all-time high hit during the 4 weeks ending April 28, 2024 |
| Pending sales | 80,277 | -5.2% | |
| New listings | 94,113 | 5.5% | |
| Active listings | 953,851 | 11% | Smallest increase in a year |
| Months of supply | 4.1 | +0.6 pts. | 4 to 5 months of supply is considered balanced, with a lower number indicating seller’s market conditions |
| Share of homes off market in two weeks | 36% | Down from 40% | |
| Median days on market | 50 | +7 days | |
| Share of homes sold above list price | 23.4% | Down from 26% | |
| Average sale-to-list price ratio | 98.4% | Down from 98.7% | |
| Metro-level highlights: Four weeks ending March 16, 2025 Redfin’s metro-level data includes the 50 most populous U.S. metros. Select metros may be excluded from time to time to ensure data accuracy. | |||
| Metros with biggest year-over-year increases | Metros with biggest year-over-year decreases | Notes | |
| Median sale price | Milwaukee (12.2%) Nassau County, NY (10.8%) Anaheim, CA (9.9%) Providence, RI (9.8%) Cleveland (9.2%) | Jacksonville, FL (-3.7%) Tampa, FL (-2.8%) Austin, TX (-2.5%) Atlanta (-1.3%) Fort Worth, TX (-0.3%) San Antonio (-0.2%) | Declined in 6 metros |
| Pending sales | Los Angeles (4.2%) Sacramento, CA (3.3%) Montgomery County, PA (2.5%) Seattle (2.3%) Anaheim, CA (1.3%) | Fort Lauderdale, FL (-17.8%) Warren, MI (-16.1%) Detroit (-14.3%) Houston (-13.6%) Nassau County, NY (-13%) | Increased in 8 metros |
| New listings | San Jose, CA (29.5%) Phoenix (26%) Sacramento, CA (24.1%) Denver (20.8%) Los Angeles (19%) | Detroit (-12.5%) Warren, MI (-12%) Newark, NJ (-7.7%) Milwaukee (-7.2%) Nassau County, NY (-5.5%) | Declined in 10 metros |
To view the full report, including charts and metro-level data, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/news/housing-market-update-high-housing-costs-stall-pending-sales
