Realtor.com® Weekly Housing Report: Stubbornly High Home Prices Refuse to Come Down From Their Summer Peak

Rhea-AI Summary

In early October, the U.S. median home price held steady at $350,000, reflecting a record growth of 12.9% year-over-year. Despite a typical autumn slow down, buyer demand remains high, enticing sellers to stay in the market. However, inventory is down 38% from last year, with a 7% drop in new listings. Homes are selling approximately 13 days faster than in the previous year, at around 53 days on the market. The proprietary Housing Market Recovery Index maintained a healthy score of 110.4, indicating a resilient housing market.

Positive

• U.S. median home price at $350,000 with 12.9% annual growth.
• Homes are selling 13 days faster than last year.
• Housing Market Recovery Index at 110.4, indicating overall market strength.

Negative

• Inventory down by 38% compared to last year.
• New listings down by 7% from the previous year.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- During the first week of October, the U.S. median home price remained near its summer peak of $350,000 and hit record-high growth of 12.9% over last year, showing no signs of the usual fall cool down, according to realtor.com^®'s Weekly Housing Report for the week ending Oct. 3. The decline in the number of homes on the market improved slightly this week, which may be evidence of high prices enticing more sellers to stay in the market.

"While buyers would normally begin to hunker down this time of year, we expect to see an unusually high number remain in the market this fall," said Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com^®. "This gives sellers a rare opportunity to get top dollar for their home outside of the prime selling season, which may be motivating some to stay in the market. However, even with record breaking prices, we're not seeing sellers rush into the market with the same eagerness as buyers. Looking forward, a key question is whether this frenzied demand will continue into the spring or if we'll see more balance between home buyers and sellers."  

Home prices show no signs of coming down anytime soon

• After 21 continuous weeks of price acceleration, the U.S. median listing price grew 12.9% over last year for the week of Oct. 3. This is the largest yearly price growth that's been recorded since 2017.
• In a normal fall housing market, sellers would be forced to lower their prices in an effort to entice a smaller pool of buyers, but this year has completely bucked the usual trend.

The decline in the number of homes on the market improves slightly over last week

• As of this week, the number of homes on the market is down 38% compared to last year. This is a slight improvement over last week when total inventory was down 39%, but by no means is it the relief many buyers are hoping for. Despite record setting prices and a rapid pace for home sales, sellers remain reluctant to list their home.
• The number of new listings hitting the market was down 7% compared to this time last year. This is a step back from last week's decline of 6%.

Homes are selling nearly two weeks faster than last year

• Homes are selling in 53 days, which is 13 days faster than this time last year, and on par with last week. With homes selling so quickly, sellers have no reason to adjust their prices this October. This trend is expected to continue as buyer demand shows no signs of tapering off anytime soon.

Overall health of the housing market holds steady entering October

• Realtor.com^® tracks the overall strength of the housing market through its proprietary Housing Market Recovery Index, which compares real-time key indicators including trends in number of searchers on realtor.com^®, median listing prices, the number of newly listed homes, and the time it takes to sell to January 2020, prior to the pandemic.
• This week, the index was 110.4, a slight decline of 0.2 points below last week and 10.4 points stronger than it was pre-COVID.

 

Metro	Median Listing Price YoY	Total Listings YoY	Median Days on Market YoY
Akron, Ohio	9.1%	-53.2%	10 days faster
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y.	13.8%	-44.1%	15 days faster
Albuquerque, N.M.	12.5%	-50.7%	7 days faster
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pa.-N.J.	24.5%	-56.7%	40 days faster
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga.	9.9%	-46.1%	10 days faster
Augusta-Richmond County, Ga.-S.C.	7.6%	-47.7%	19 days faster
Austin-Round Rock, Texas	14.7%	-46.9%	12 days faster
Bakersfield, Calif.	18.9%	-46.2%	13 days faster
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, Md.	7.4%	-50.0%	11 days faster
Baton Rouge, La.	13.9%	-36.4%	2 days faster
Birmingham-Hoover, Ala.	6.0%	-36.3%	14 days faster
Boise City, Idaho	15.3%	-70.1%	1 day slower
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass.-N.H.	18.4%	-30.6%	19 days faster
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn.	2.3%	-24.9%	44 days faster
Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, N.Y.	8.6%	-45.0%	1 day slower
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.	12.3%	-35.3%	18 days faster
Charleston-North Charleston, S.C.	14.4%	-42.2%	22 days faster
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, N.C.-S.C.	8.4%	-48.3%	14 days faster
Chattanooga, Tenn.-Ga.	11.9%	-50.6%	13 days faster
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Ill.-Ind.-Wis.	8.5%	-33.0%	7 days faster
Cincinnati, Ohio-Ky.-Ind.	18.5%	-46.4%	9 days faster
Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio	2.6%	-48.7%	15 days faster
Colorado Springs, Colo.	3.4%	-50.8%	12 days faster
Columbia, S.C.	8.5%	-47.0%	19 days faster
Columbus, Ohio	6.0%	-46.8%	14 days faster
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas	4.2%	-45.8%	8 days faster
Dayton, Ohio	17.7%	-45.5%	11 days faster
Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Fla.	4.0%	-43.4%	20 days faster
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colo.	3.7%	-41.8%	7 days faster
Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa	3.6%	-37.4%	8 days faster
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Mich	12.0%	-46.7%	8 days faster
Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.	18.4%	-46.6%	7 days faster
El Paso, Texas	15.2%	-44.7%	18 days faster
Fresno, Calif.	7.0%	-55.4%	23 days faster
Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Mich	9.1%	-50.4%	3 days slower
Greensboro-High Point, N.C.	9.7%	-48.9%	14 days faster
Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin, S.C.	4.1%	-40.7%	6 days faster
Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pa.	14.1%	-50.6%	7 days faster
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn.	7.1%	-32.0%	21 days faster
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas	6.5%	-32.0%	10 days faster
Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Ind.	12.2%	-47.2%	11 days faster
Jackson, Miss.	18.5%	-46.2%	20 days faster
Jacksonville, Fla.	3.6%	-44.8%	13 days faster
Kansas City, Mo.-Kan.	11.9%	-48.2%	7 days faster
Knoxville, Tenn.	18.5%	-54.9%	11 days faster
Lakeland-Winter Haven, Fla.	7.8%	-32.5%	1 day faster
Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nev.	8.6%	-7.5%	8 days faster
Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, Ark.	22.6%	-49.6%	20 days faster
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif.	16.5%	-24.8%	5 days faster
Louisville/Jefferson County, Ky.-Ind.	4.0%	-50.8%	11 days faster
Madison, Wis.	1.5%	-43.4%	10 days faster
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas	16.6%	-47.1%	24 days faster
Memphis, Tenn.-Miss.-Ark.	20.0%	-49.2%	11 days faster
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Fla.	2.5%	-15.3%	3 days faster
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis.	9.1%	-41.1%	7 days faster
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis.	4.5%	-30.5%	7 days faster
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, Tenn.	8.1%	-41.6%	6 days faster
New Haven-Milford, Conn.	7.6%	-23.0%	28 days faster
New Orleans-Metairie, La.	18.2%	-39.0%	7 days faster
New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa.	16.2%	-3.4%	10 days faster
North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla.	3.0%	-33.5%	21 days faster
Oklahoma City, Okla.	7.8%	-39.4%	7 days faster
Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb.-Iowa	5.5%	-47.0%	8 days slower
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla.	1.9%	-21.1%	5 days faster
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif.	7.7%	-41.1%	23 days faster
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Fla.	7.0%	-41.1%	7 days faster
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md.	16.7%	-39.7%	15 days faster
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.	6.8%	-40.4%	7 days faster
Pittsburgh, Pa.	25.0%	-36.2%	8 days faster
Portland-South Portland, Maine	12.8%	-48.9%	32 days faster
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Ore.-Wash.	6.4%	-43.5%	4 days faster
Providence-Warwick, R.I.-Mass.	6.9%	-52.9%	11 days faster
Raleigh, N.C.	5.4%	-45.1%	11 days faster
Richmond, Va.	8.0%	-44.8%	7 days faster
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.	13.7%	-54.0%	12 days faster
Rochester, N.Y.	9.3%	-42.2%	14 days faster
Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade, Calif.	10.6%	-50.5%	14 days faster
Salt Lake City, Utah	15.1%	-51.6%	4 days faster
San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas	3.5%	-40.3%	9 days faster
San Diego-Carlsbad, Calif.	11.8%	-26.2%	34 days faster
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Calif.	11.7%	-5.9%	4 days slower
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.	6.8%	-23.2%	7 days faster
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre--Hazleton, Pa.	22.6%	-54.4%	28 days faster
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.	5.9%	-31.5%	8 days faster
Spokane-Spokane Valley, Wash.	10.2%	-49.1%	8 days faster
Springfield, Mass.	27.0%	-45.0%	25 days faster
St. Louis, Mo.-Ill.	10.2%	-38.0%	8 days faster
Stockton-Lodi, Calif.	7.9%	-62.7%	5 days faster
Syracuse, N.Y.	8.9%	-42.0%	3 days faster
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.	9.0%	-44.0%	10 days faster
Toledo, Ohio	16.9%	-40.1%	8 days faster
Tucson, Ariz.	8.3%	-42.7%	7 days faster
Tulsa, Okla.	12.3%	-41.9%	11 days faster
Urban Honolulu, Hawaii	-11.1%	25.4%	4 days slower
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C.	8.5%	-47.6%	22 days faster
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-Va.-Md.-W. Va.	8.2%	-35.4%	8 days faster
Wichita, Kan.	10.6%	-44.8%	11 days faster
Winston-Salem, N.C.	8.5%	-48.3%	16 days faster
Worcester, Mass.-Conn.	11.6%	-54.4%	26 days faster
Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa.	7.2%	-56.4%	16 days faster

 

About realtor.com^®
Realtor.com^® makes buying, selling and living in homes easier and more rewarding for everyone. Realtor.com^® pioneered the world of digital real estate 20 years ago, and today through its website and mobile apps is a trusted source for the information, tools and professional expertise that help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. Using proprietary data science and machine learning technology, realtor.com^® pairs buyers and sellers with local agents in their market, helping take the guesswork out of buying and selling a home. For professionals, realtor.com^® is a trusted provider of consumer connections and branding solutions that help them succeed in today's on-demand world. Realtor.com^® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS^®. For more information, visit realtor.com^®.

Contact: Cody Horvat, cody.horvat@realtor.com

 

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SOURCE realtor.com

FAQ

What is the current U.S. median home price as of October 2020?

The current U.S. median home price is $350,000.

How much has the U.S. median home price increased compared to last year?

The U.S. median home price has increased by 12.9% compared to last year.

What is the trend in home inventory as of October 2020?

Home inventory is down 38% compared to last year.

How quickly are homes selling in the current market?

Homes are selling in approximately 53 days, which is 13 days faster than last year.

What does the Housing Market Recovery Index indicate?

The Housing Market Recovery Index is at 110.4, showing strong market resilience.