Redfin Housing Demand Index Fell 14 Percent from January to February as Ongoing Supply Shortage Crimped Homebuyer Activity - Redfin Real Estate News

Redfin Housing Demand Index Fell 14 Percent from January to February as Ongoing Supply Shortage Crimped Homebuyer Activity

by
Updated on October 6th, 2020

The Redfin Housing Demand Index fell 14.1 percent month over month to 110 in February. This represents the lowest level of homebuyer demand in 11 months and the largest month-over-month decline on record for the Demand Index, for which Redfin has data going back to January 2013.
The Demand Index is based on thousands of Redfin customers requesting home tours and writing offers. The Demand Index is adjusted for Redfin’s market share growth. A level of 100 represents the historical average for the three-year period from January 2013 to December 2015.

National_deseas

“There are still plenty of people touring homes; there just aren’t enough homes to satisfy all the buyers who want to make offers,” said Redfin head of analytics Pete Ziemkiewicz. “We’ve started off each of the past three years with inventory down double-digits from the year before, which has held back buyer activity until enough new listings hit the market to get the offers flowing in the Spring.”
From January to February, the seasonally adjusted number of buyers requesting home tours fell by 12.4 percent, while the number of buyers making offers fell 18.0 percent.
Looking at year-over-year comparisons, the Demand Index declined 6.5 percent from February 2017. The number of buyers requesting home tours actually increased 2.9 percent, while the number making offers fell 20.1 percent.
February marked 33 consecutive months of declining home supply across the 15 metros covered by the Demand Index, with 13.6 percent fewer homes for sale than a year earlier. The inventory shortage, paired with strong demand, has driven rapid home-price appreciation.

Metro-Level Demand Highlights

Below, we provide a slideshow of local charts for each of the metros tracked by the Redfin Housing Demand Index and highlight noteworthy trends and agent insights from select markets. If you’d like to learn more about a particular market, please email press@redfin.com.


For more detail on the Redfin Demand Index methodology, click here.

Avatar

Jon Whitely

Jon writes about real estate and works with journalists and agents across the country. He previously worked at an advertising and PR agency in Madison, helping the world understand why every pizza needs Wisconsin Cheese. His dream home would have a water slide in the master bedroom to make getting out of bed a splash. Redfin is a full-service real estate brokerage that uses modern technology to make clients smarter and faster. For more information about working with a Redfin real estate agent to buy or sell a home, visit our Why Redfin page.

Email Jon

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Be the first to see the latest real estate news:

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By submitting your email you agree to Redfin’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Scroll to Top