Housing Market Update: A Record 42% of Homes Were On the Market One Week or Less

The asking price of newly listed homes is rapidly increasing each week as fewer homes hit the market.

Key housing market takeaways for 400+ U.S. metro areas during the 4-week period ending February 14:

• The median home-sale price increased 15% year over year to $318,691.
• Asking prices of newly listed homes hit a new all-time high of $338,975, up 10% from the same time a year ago. In a typical year, asking prices do not surpass the previous year’s peak until March.
• Pending home sales were up 25% year over year.
• New listings of homes for sale were down 13% from a year earlier.
• Active listings (the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period) fell 38% from 2020 to a new all-time low.
• 55% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market, well above the 44% rate during the same period a year ago. This is another new all-time high for this measure since at least 2012 (as far back as Redfin’s data for this measure goes). During the week ending February 14, 58% of homes sold in two weeks or less.
• 42% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within one week of hitting the market, up from 30% during the same period a year earlier. This is also an all-time high for this measure. During the week ending February 14, 45% sold in one week or less.
• The average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, increased slightly to 99.3%—1.6 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
• For the week ending February 14, the seasonally adjusted Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index—a measure of requests for home tours and other services from Redfin agents—was up 45% from the same period a year ago.
• Mortgage purchase applications decreased 6% week over week (seasonally-adjusted) and were up 15% from a year earlier (unadjusted) during the week ending February 12. For the week ending February 18, 30-year mortgage rates increased to 2.81%, the highest level since November.

“Each week, inventory keeps dropping, and the homeowners who do decide to list are setting higher and higher asking prices,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “Prices are rising so quickly that even recently sold comparable homes might not be the best gauge for how a seller should price or how a buyer should offer. Instead, buyers and sellers alike should have their agent call listing agents of homes that have gone pending in the last week for inside information on winning offer prices and terms. By late spring I expect the market to stabilize, as high prices will draw more sellers on to the market, especially sellers who are considering downsizing or moving to a less competitive area.”