Redfin Reports Mortgage Rates Drop to Lowest Level in Over a Year, Prompting Some House Hunters to Ramp Up Touring
A soft jobs report and recession jitters sent mortgage rates down last week. Despite the small improvement in affordability, pending sales still posted their biggest year-over-year decline in 9 months–but the rate drop prompted some prospective buyers to start the house-hunting process.
Home prices are also falling from their peak: The median sale price was
Home sales have yet to improve as the affordability crunch eases. Pending sales are down
“Many of the buyers I’m working with are excited because they’ve been casually house hunting for a year, waiting for rates to come down before they make an offer. Now a lot of those buyers want to get in now, before rates get too low and cause more competition,” said Redfin Premier agent Shoshana Godwin. “One of my listings, which went on the market last week, had over 100 parties come through and received nine offers. Buyers are securing lower rates than they were a few months ago, but costs are still high enough that buyers are picky. If they're going to have a high monthly payment, they want a move-in ready home so they don't have to pay for upgrades.”
On the supply side, new listings are re-gaining some of the momentum they had lost in recent weeks. New listings of homes for sale are up
For more on Redfin economists’ takes on the housing market, please visit Redfin’s “From Our Economists” page.
Indicators of homebuying demand and activity |
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|
Value (if applicable) |
Recent change |
Year-over-year change |
Source |
Daily average 30-year fixed mortgage rate |
|
Near lowest level since spring 2023; down from |
Down from |
|
Weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate |
|
Down from |
Down from |
|
Mortgage-purchase applications (seasonally adjusted) |
|
Increased |
Down |
|
Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index (seasonally adjusted) |
|
Essentially unchanged from a month earlier (as of week ending Aug. 4) |
Down |
Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index, a measure of requests for tours and other homebuying services from Redfin agents |
Touring activity |
|
Up |
At this time last year, it was up |
ShowingTime, a home touring technology company |
Google searches for “home for sale” |
|
Up |
Down |
Key housing-market data
Redfin’s national metrics include data from 400+ |
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|
Four weeks ending August 4, 2024 |
Year-over-year change |
Notes |
Median sale price |
|
|
Smallest increase in 9 months |
Median asking price |
|
|
|
Median monthly mortgage payment |
|
|
Lowest level since March; |
Pending sales |
82,075 |
- |
Biggest decline in 9 months |
New listings |
95,968 |
|
|
Active listings |
1,002,695 |
|
|
Months of supply |
3.4 |
+0.6 pts. |
4 to 5 months of supply is considered balanced, with a lower number indicating seller’s market conditions. |
Share of homes off market in two weeks |
|
Down from |
|
Median days on market |
34 |
+6 days |
|
Share of homes sold above list price |
|
Down from |
|
Share of homes with a price drop |
|
+2 pts. |
Highest level on record |
Average sale-to-list price ratio |
|
-0.4 pts. |
|
Metro-level highlights: Four weeks ending August 4, 2024
Redfin’s metro-level data includes the 50 most populous |
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|
Metros with biggest year-over-year increases |
Metros with biggest year-over-year decreases |
Notes |
Median sale price |
|
|
Declined in 5 metros |
Pending sales |
|
|
Increased in 6 metros |
New listings |
|
|
Declined in 8 metros |
To view the full report, including charts, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/news/housing-market-update-mortgage-rates-fall-tours-increase
About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate company. We help people find a place to live with brokerage, rentals, lending, title insurance, and renovations services. We run the country's #1 real estate brokerage site. Our customers can save thousands in fees while working with a top agent. Our home-buying customers see homes first with on-demand tours, and our lending and title services help them close quickly. Customers selling a home can have our renovations crew fix it up to sell for top dollar. Our rentals business empowers millions nationwide to find apartments and houses for rent. Since launching in 2006, we've saved customers more than
Redfin’s subsidiaries and affiliated brands include: Bay Equity Home Loans®, Rent.™, Apartment Guide®, Title Forward® and WalkScore®.
For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center. To be added to Redfin's press release distribution list, email press@redfin.com. To view Redfin's press center, click here.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240808412530/en/
Redfin Journalist Services:
Tana Kelley
press@redfin.com
Source: Redfin