Housing Market Update: Homebuyers’ Monthly Payments Up 25% to Record High

Housing Market Update: Homebuyers’ Monthly Payments Up 25% to Record High

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Updated on October 26th, 2022

People who need to move now are pinched by rising mortgage rates, sky-high home prices and rising rents.

The estimated monthly mortgage payment for a typical home for sale rose 25% year over year—or $388—to a record $1,931. That’s based on the all-time high median asking price of $376,000 recorded during the four weeks ending February 6, and an average 30-year mortgage rate of 3.69%.

Pending sales were down slightly from the same period in 2021, but 34% higher than they were two years earlier, weeks before the pandemic began. Meanwhile, the number of homes for sale was down 29% from a year earlier and down 50% from 2020. This constricted supply is depressing home sales, as mortgage purchase applications fell 10% during the week ending February 4.

As a result, the market’s pace is accelerating. Over half (55%) of homes that found a buyer spent two weeks or less on the market—the highest rate on record for this time of year.

“Movers are feeling a big pinch. There is nowhere for them to run from increasing housing costs now that mortgage rates are rising and inflation has spread to the rental market,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “Homebuyers feel uneasy making offers on homes with such high asking prices, but there is no better alternative. Would-be homebuyers who bowed out last year are kicking themselves, but delaying purchasing a home another year could be a costly mistake. My advice to buyers who are worried they will have to overbid in order to win a home is to make sure they can see themselves living in the home for at least five years. I expect home values to rise over that time horizon even if there are short-term fluctuations in the housing market. Given how tough the housing market is for movers, it makes sense that so many homeowners are staying put. It’s also contributing to the shortage of new listings and making the market even tougher for buyers.”

Key housing market takeaways for 400+ U.S. metro areas:

Unless otherwise noted, the data in this report covers the four-week period ending February 6. Redfin’s housing market data goes back through 2012.

Data based on homes listed and/or sold during the period:

  • The median home sale price was up 14% year over year to $353,750.
  • The median asking price of newly listed homes increased 15% year over year to an all-time high of $376,000.
  • The monthly mortgage payment on the median asking price was up 25% from a year earlier to an all-time high of $1,931. This was up 28% from the same period in 2020.
  • Pending home sales were down 0.5% year over year, but sales were up 40% from the same period in 2020, just prior to the start of the pandemic.
  • New listings of homes for sale were down 10% from a year earlier. Compared to January 2020, new listings were down 12%.
  • Active listings (the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period) fell 29% year over year, dropping to an all-time low of 440,000. Listings were down 50% from the same period in 2020.
  • 55% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market, above the 49% rate of a year earlier and 41% in 2020. This is the highest the measure has ever been in January, and the highest level since March.
  • 43% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within one week of hitting the market, up from 37% during the same period a year earlier and 29% in 2020. This measure is at a record high.
  • Homes that sold were on the market for a median of 29 days, down from 38 days a year earlier and 59 days in 2020.
  • 41% of homes sold above list price, up from 32% a year earlier and 19% in 2020.
  • On average, 2.8% of homes for sale each week had a price drop, up 0.3 percentage points from the same time in 2021, but down 0.6 percentage points from 2020.
  • The average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, was 100.2%. In other words, the average home sold for 0.2% above its asking price.

Other leading indicators of homebuying activity:

Refer to our metrics definition page for explanations of all the metrics used in this report.

Median Sale Price

Median Asking Price

Median Mortgage Payment

Pending Sales

New Listings

Active Listings

Off-Market in 2 Weeks

Off-Market in 1 Week

Days on Market

Sold Above List

Price Drops

Sale-to-List

Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index

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Tim Ellis

Tim Ellis has been analyzing the real estate market since 2005, and worked at Redfin as a housing market analyst from 2010 through 2013 and again starting in 2018. In his free time, he runs the independently-operated Seattle-area real estate website Seattle Bubble, and produces the "Dispatches from the Multiverse" improvised comedy sci-fi podcast.

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