Redfin Reports Pending Home Sales Drop 13% Year Over Year As Mortgage Rates Stay Stubbornly High
- New listings ticked up slightly, providing hope for buyers
- Some homeowners taking advantage of rising home prices and low inventory
- Pending home sales down 13% from last year
- Total number of homes for sale down 16%
With monthly housing payments at an all-time high, would-be buyers are waiting for homes to become more affordable
New listings ticked up slightly this month, providing a glimmer of hope for buyers who want more to choose from
What homebuyers are doing: Waiting for homes to become more affordable and for more of them to hit the market. Soaring costs have pushed pending home sales down
What home sellers are doing: A few more home sellers have jumped off the sidelines. New listings have stabilized, ticking up slightly since the beginning of September. They’re down
Where the Fed comes in: The Federal Reserve decided against an interest-rate hike at their meeting this week. But they also signaled that interest rates are likely to remain higher than anticipated into 2024 and 2025, which could keep borrowing costs—and mortgage rates—higher for longer. Buyers who are waiting for housing costs to come down may consider jumping into the market if they can afford to, because a meaningful decline probably isn’t coming soon.
Leading indicators
Indicators of homebuying demand and activity |
||||
|
Value (if applicable) |
Recent change |
Year-over-year change |
Source |
Daily average 30-year fixed mortgage rate |
|
Near the two-decade high of |
Up from about |
Mortgage News Daily |
Weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate |
|
Flat from |
Up from |
Freddie Mac |
Mortgage-purchase applications (seasonally adjusted) |
|
Up |
Down |
Mortgage Bankers Association |
Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index (seasonally adjusted) |
|
Down |
Down |
Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index, a measure of requests for tours and other homebuying services from Redfin agents |
Google searches for “home for sale” |
|
Down |
Down |
Google Trends |
Key housing-market data
Redfin’s national metrics include data from 400+ |
|||
|
Four weeks ending September 17 |
Year-over-year change |
Notes |
Median sale price |
|
|
Smallest increase in a month. Median sale prices are up partly because elevated mortgage rates were hampering prices during this time last year. |
Median asking price |
|
|
Biggest increase in nearly a year |
Median monthly mortgage payment |
|
|
All-time high |
Pending sales |
78,750 |
- |
|
New listings |
81,732 |
- |
Smallest decline in over a year, but that’s partly because new listings fell rapidly at this time in 2022 |
Active listings |
806,701 |
- |
|
Months of supply |
3.1 months |
Unchanged |
Highest level since March. 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 |
|
+0.3 pts. |
|
Median days on market |
30 |
-1 day |
|
Share of homes sold above list price |
|
Unchanged |
|
Share of homes with a price drop |
|
+0.3 pts. |
|
Average sale-to-list price ratio |
|
+0.2 pts. |
|
Metro-level highlights: Four weeks ending September 17, 2023
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 declines |
Notes |
Median sale price |
|
|
Declined in 8 metros |
Pending sales |
n/a |
|
Declined in all metros |
New listings |
|
|
Declined in all but 8 metros |
To view the full report, including charts, please visit:
https://www.redfin.com/news/housing-market-update-pending-sales-down-mortgage-rates-high
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 sell homes for more money and charge half the fee. We also run the country's #1 real estate brokerage site. 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 in certain markets can have our renovations crew fix up their home to sell for top dollar. Our rentals business empowers millions nationwide to find apartments and houses for rent. Customers who buy and sell with Redfin pay a
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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230922479616/en/
Redfin Journalist Services:
Kenneth Applewhaite, 206-588-6863
press@redfin.com
Source: Redfin