Residential Real Estate News
Pending Home Sales in U.S. Slow Mid-2021
National property broker Redfin is reporting that U.S. pending home sales climbed 7% during the four-week period ending September 12, 2021, the smallest year-over-year increase since June 2020.
Of homes that sold during the period, just under half went for more than their asking price, the smallest share since mid-May, as the housing market continued to follow a typical seasonal pattern of end-of-summer cooling. Home sale prices flattened like they typically do this time of year, though they were still 14% higher than a year earlier. However, sellers' asking prices rose 1.7% from the four-week period ending September 5. Asking prices often rise through September, but this increase was larger than the 1% that we saw over the same period in 2019, suggesting that home sellers may be feeling optimistic about demand from homebuyers.
"Homebuying demand is being propped up by a number of factors, including first-time buyers deciding to buy now that rents are rising at their fastest rate since at least the start of the pandemic," said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather.
"And now that enhanced unemployment benefits are ending, even more people may look to relocate for a new job. This sustained demand is likely why home prices have picked back up in recent weeks. Hopefully it will translate into more new listings too."
Key housing market takeaways for 400+ U.S. metro areas:
- The median home-sale price increased 14% year over year to $357,750. This was flat from the four-week period ending September 5.
- Asking prices of newly listed homes were up 11% from the same time a year ago to a median of $357,225, on par with where asking prices were in mid-May. This was up 1.7% from the four-week period ending September 5. During the same period in 2019, asking prices rose 1.0%.
- New listings of homes for sale were down 6% from a year earlier. New listings have been below 2020 levels since the four-week period ending August 29. The number of homes being listed is in a typical seasonal decline, down 18% from the 2021 peak reached during the four-week period ending June 27.
- Active listings (the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period) fell 22% from 2020. Active listings have declined 3% from their 2021 peak hit during the four-week period ending August 15.
- 46% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market, above the 43% rate of a year earlier, but down 10 percentage points from the 2021 peak set during the four-week period ending March 28.
- 33% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within one week of hitting the market, up from 31% during the same period a year earlier, but down 10 percentage points from the 2021 peak reached during the four-week period ending March 28.
- Homes that sold were on the market for a median of 19 days, up from the all-time low of 15 days seen in late June and July, and down from 32 days a year earlier.
- 50% of homes sold above list price, up from 33% a year earlier. This measure has been falling since the four-week period ending July 11, when it peaked at 55%.
- On average, 4.9% of homes for sale each week had a price drop, up 0.9 percentage points from the same time in 2020, and the highest level since the four-week period ending October 13, 2019.
- The average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, decreased to 101.3%. In other words, the average home sold for 1.3% above its asking price. This measure was down 0.9 percentage points from its peak hit during the four-week period ending July 11 and up 2.0 percentage points from a year earlier.
- Mortgage purchase applications increased 8% week over week (seasonally adjusted) during the week ending September 3. For the week ending September 9, 30-year mortgage rates were essentially flat at 2.88%.
- From January 1 to September 12, home tours were up 8%, compared to a 27% increase over the same period last year, according to home tour technology company ShowingTime.
- The Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index was up 27% from a year earlier during the week ending September 12, and increased slightly from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index is a measure of requests for home tours and other services from Redfin agents.
