Historically low rates are motivating homebuyers even though prices were up 8.2% year over year in July, effectively cancelling out the increase in purchasing power.
The U.S. housing market heated up even more, with home prices and measures of competition charging ahead, unfazed by seasonality during the four-week period ending August 23.
San Francisco has seen a greater increase in price drops than any other U.S. metro, with the share of sellers slashing prices more than doubling from a year ago as the pandemic drives homebuyers out of the Bay Area.
We delved into July housing market data to analyze whether homebuyer interest in additional space has translated to a hotter housing market for bigger homes. The answer? Yes—but only slightly.
A surge in homebuilding before the pandemic is now driving growth in new-home sales. A shift to the suburbs and record-low mortgage rates are also contributing factors.