According to a new press release from Redfin, new listings rose 10% year-over-year ending the four weeks preceding Feb. 18, the biggest increase in two months due to the springtime ramp-up to the summer busy season.
It’s still a sellers market—sellers are hoping to take advantage of still-high prices as median home prices are up 6% year-over-year, the biggest increase since October 2022.
This sellers market has let to many buyers remaining on the sidelines; mortgage-purchase applications dropped 10% from a week earlier as daily average mortgage rates surpassed 7% for the first time since mid-December. Pending home sales are down 7% year-over-year, similar to the declines seen since mid-January. But some house hunters are jumping into the earliest stages of homebuying: Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index, which measures requests for tours and homebuying assistance from Redfin agents, is up from the low point it dropped to in mid-January, when harsh weather was freezing up demand.
Redfin agents report that today’s buyers are mostly interested in move-in ready homes because they don’t want to spend money on repairs and renovations in addition to high monthly payments. Agents also recommend that sellers are open to providing some sort of financial concession to buyers to help ease the pain of 7% rates.
“I tell every one of my sellers to have an open mind and put on their buyer’s hat. Nine times out of 10, buyers are asking for a concession in their initial offer right now—and usually the seller needs to accept it to seal the deal,” said Shauna Pendleton, a Redfin Premier agent in Boise, Idaho. “The most common concession buyers are asking for is a mortgage-rate buydown. Requests for sellers to cover the closing costs are also common. I most often see buyers ask for concessions for more affordable homes—anything under $500,000 here in Boise—but I see some concessions on expensive homes, too.”
Springtime data from across the country
By the numbers:
- Weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate: 6.77% (up from 6.12 year-over-year)
- Mortgage-purchase applications (seasonally adjusted): down 13% year-over-year
- Google searches for “homes for sale”: down 15% year-over-year
- Median sales price: $364,751
- Median asking price: $396,000
- Median monthly mortgage payment: $2,636 at a rate of 6.77% (down 7.9% year-over-year)
- Pending sales: 74,092
- New listings: 76,216
- Active listings: 753,24
- Months of supply: 3.9%
- Median days on market: 50
Click here to see the data in its entirety. Click here for recent findings by HouseCanary.
