The US real estate market isn’t showing signs of slowing down, according to a new report from a technology-powered real estate brokerage.
On Thursday,
Redfin (NASDAQ: RDFN) reported that the share of homes selling within one to two weeks is on the rise during a time of year that typically sees the market slow down.
The report also found that a third of pending sales were under contract within a week, up 2.2 points from a month earlier. During the same period in 2019, this measure fell 0.4 points. Over the past six weeks, active listings of homes for sale have dropped 5.9%, compared to a decline of just 1.6% over the same period in 2019. The hot market is largely fueled by the ongoing crisis-level supply shortage.
Redfin listing agent David Palmer explained in a media release on this news that during the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of my sellers were trying to get out of Seattle and take their equity to a lower priced market.
“Most sellers who are on the market now are very motivated to move: landlords with vacant homes, families who already upgraded and need to sell their previous homes, couples splitting up. As homebuying demand declines into the fall, I'm only encouraging people who have urgency to sell now. Otherwise, I'm advising them to wait until the new year.”
Further noted in the report was that the median home-sale price increased 13% year over year to $355,600. Asking prices of newly listed homes were up 12% from the same time a year ago to a median of $362,047, down 0.7% from the all-time high set during the previous four-week period ending October 3 as sellers began to back down from the record-high asking prices we saw in September. Asking prices typically increase in September and then begin to decline in October through the end of the year.