PHOTO: US Home Prices
National median home price hit a new record of $320,625
SEATTLE, Oct. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — (NASDAQ: RDFN) — The median home sale price increased 15% year over year to $320,625—the highest on record, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. The largest increase ever recorded in the Case-Shiller national home price index (which goes back through 1988) was 14.5% in September 2005.
Below are other key housing market takeaways for 434 U.S. metro areas during the 4-week period ending October 4.
- In the week ending October 4, home prices were up 16% from the same week a year earlier. Since the four-week period ending July 5, home prices have increased 6.8%. Over that same period in 2018 and 2019, prices declined an average of 4.4%.
- The median asking price of new listings was up 14.0% from a year earlier, an uptick from 12.9% during the four weeks ending September 27.
- Pending home sales climbed 26% year over year, the smallest growth rate since the four-week period ending August 16.
- New listings of homes for sale were up 4% from a year earlier. This is the first time year-over-year growth in new listings have fallen below 5% since the four-week period ending August 16.
- Active listings (the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period) fell 28% from 2019 to a new all-time low. The rate of year-over-year supply declines has remained consistent at this level for the past few months.
- 45.2% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market. This has also held relatively steady for the last 17 weeks.
- The average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, rose to 99.4%—an all-time high and 1.2 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
- For the week ending October 4, the seasonally adjusted Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index was up 34.9% from pre-pandemic levels in January and February.
- Mortgage applications increased 5% week over week during the week ending October 2, another indicator that demand remains strong. For the week ending October 8, 30-year mortgage rates were flat at 2.87%. Rates have been below 3% since late July.
“Large, expensive, luxury homes are taking up a bigger share of the homes that are selling, which is driving a high growth rate for the median sale price,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “Remote work is increasing demand from affluent people, while middle-income people are more often expected to do their jobs in-person, and many have been affected by furloughs and shutdowns.”
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