Pending sales rose 34% and new listings were up only 9% from the same period a year earlier.
Key housing market takeaways for 400+ U.S. metro areas during the 4-week period ending October 25:
- The median home sale price increased 15% year over year to $322,375—the highest on record. In the week ending October 25, home prices were up 16% from the same week a year earlier. Home prices continue to buck their typical seasonal pattern. The national median home price typically peaks the first week of July and declines through the fall, but this year since the four-week period ending July 5, home prices have increased 7.4%. Over that same period in 2018 and 2019, prices declined an average of 4.2%.
- Pending home sales climbed 34% year over year even as the number of pending sales continued a typical seasonal decline.
- New listings of homes for sale were up 9% from a year earlier—the largest increase since the four-week period ending September 13.
- Active listings (the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period) fell 29% from 2019 to a new all-time low.
- 45% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market. This measure typically peaks in April or May and declines through the end of the year, but this year it has held steady since late June.
- The average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, rose to 99.5%—an all-time high and 1.4 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
- For the week ending October 25, the seasonally adjusted Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index was up 35% from pre-pandemic levels in January and February.
- Mortgage applications increased 0.2% week over week (seasonally-adjusted) and were up 24% from a year earlier (unadjusted) during the week ending October 25. For the week ending October 22, 30-year mortgage rates were flat at 2.8%. Rates have been below 3% since late July.
“This week the housing market reached a new milestone, with more homes having closed so far this year than by this time last year,” said Redfin lead economist Taylor Marr. “This comes despite the housing market nearly grinding to a halt when the coronavirus pandemic first broke out in the U.S. in March. Some homebuyers may currently be experiencing election jitters, as we did see demand slow just slightly. Clouds of uncertainty are on the horizon with a volatile stock market, coronavirus cases rising and a contentious election just around the corner. However, as we’ve seen this year, sellers are just as likely to react quickly alongside buyers, keeping the market firmly on the seller’s side.”