Early rise hints at stronger price growth in the spring
Asking prices for newly listed homes reached a new record in January.
Redfin’s new report shows an early 10% spike in the asking prices of newly listed homes, up to an all-time high of $330,225. Redfin said that asking prices do not typically pass the previous year’s peak until March. The rise suggests that price appreciation will accelerate this coming spring, stronger than what is typical this time of year. The median home sale price was up 15% year over year to $318,250.
Despite the dramatic rise in prices, buyers continue to snap up homes as soon as they are listed. New listings of homes for sale fell 12% year over year – the largest drop since May. Active listings plunged 36% from a year ago to a new all-time low, as 48% of homes that went under contract were taken off the market within the first two weeks.
“Buyers with flexibility on timing and location may also want to consider new construction, which made up 22% of homes for sale in December—the highest share on record. An advantage of homes sold by builders is that typically the price is the price, and they are sold on a first-come, first-served basis,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather.
The report also revealed that the average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, increased 1.6% year over year to 99.3%. Meanwhile, Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index—a measure of requests for home tours and other services from Redfin agents—was up 72% on a seasonally adjusted basis from a year ago.
“With more and more homes going off the market before buyers have had a chance to tour them, it has never been more important for homebuyers to be well prepared,” Fairweather said. “That means setting alerts to let you know immediately when homes hit the market and going to see them ASAP or having a plan in place with your agent to make an offer sight-unseen.”
