Tag Archives: home prices

Home Price Growth Hit Six-Year Low in December as Sales Fell 11 Percent, Redfin Reports

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Boston and San Jose Both Saw Home-Sale Prices Fall Year Over Year in December

Seattle, WA – Jan. 17, 2019 (PRNewswire) (NASDAQ: RDFN) — U.S. home-sale prices increased just 1.2 percent in December compared to a year ago to a median of $289,800, according to a housing market analysis from Redfin (www.redfin.com), the next-generation real estate brokerage. The year-over-year increase in home prices was the smallest since the number went positive in March 2012.

The median sale price of homes sold in December fell since last year in nine of the 76 largest metro areas Redfin tracks, including San Jose (-7.3%) and Boston (-1.0%). December was the first month either metro saw home prices fall year over year since January 2012. The swing in home prices has been especially dramatic in San Jose, which saw year-over-year gains in excess of 20 percent between November 2017 and June 2018.

Meanwhile, the national number of completed home sales fell faster than it has in two and a half years, down 10.9 percent from December 2017. Home sales declined in 69 of the 76 largest metro areas that Redfin tracks.

“December may feel like a foot on the brake, but the housing market was going over the speed limit,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “Home prices have been growing faster than wages since 2012, and that can’t go on forever. Now that price growth has slowed down and more homes are sitting on the market, buyers will have the upper hand in 2019. Buyers will have more options with more homes for sale, and it will be sellers working to woo buyers into making an offer. And as a bonus, buyers, for the time being, have the benefit of mortgage interest rates that are lower than they were in late 2018, which will make borrowing more affordable.”

The number of homes newly listed for sale in December fell from a year earlier (-4.1%), but due to the large decrease in home sales, the growth in the number of homes for sale on the market hit a 42-month high, rising 4.8 percent in December.

“Buyers shopping now are benefiting from sellers who are willing to negotiate, since it’s anyone’s guess what the spring real estate market will look like,” said Seattle-based Redfin agent Jessie Culbert. “Well-priced, appealing homes are seeing the return of pre-inspections and even multiple offer situations, so it may be too soon to get comfortable with the idea of a slower market.”

Of the 76 largest metro areas in the country, 46 saw an increase in the number of homes for sale compared to a year earlier, with the largest gains coming in San Jose (+131.3%), Seattle (+117.8%) and Oakland (+69.0%). The metro areas with the biggest decline in homes for sale were New Orleans (-32.3%), Montgomery County, PA (-24.3%) and Philadelphia (-22.4%).

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Across Redfin metros, the typical home that sold in December went under contract in a median of 50 days, the same speed as a year earlier. This past December, 18 percent of homes sold above the list price, down from 21 percent from the prior December. Meanwhile the share of homes with a price drop dipped to 16 percent, slightly higher than December 2017’s share of 14 percent. The share of homes that went under contract within two weeks was up month-over-month, increasing from 25 percent in November to 31 percent in December, but was down from 34 percent in December 2017.

Other December Highlights

Competition

  • Grand Rapids, MI was the fastest market, with half of all homes pending sale in just 21 days, down from 26 days a year earlier. Boston and Omaha, NE were the next fastest markets with 23 median days on market, followed by Philadelphia (25) and Rochester, NY (28).
  • The most competitive market in December was San Francisco where 52.2% of homes sold above list price, followed by 41.5% in Oakland, CA, 39.6% in San Jose, CA, 32.8% in Tacoma, WA, and 31.9% in Buffalo, NY.

Prices

  • Pittsburgh had the nation’s highest price growth, rising 11.7% since last year to $162,000. Salt Lake City had the second highest growth at 10.0% year-over-year price growth, followed by Greenville, SC (9.5%), New Haven, CT (8.8%), and Las Vegas (8.6%).
  • 9 metros saw price declines in December. Honolulu home prices declined the most since last year falling 9 percent to $537,000.

Sales

Sacramento, CA saw the largest decline in sales since last year, falling 26.4%. Home sales in Orange County, CA and Seattle declined by 22.5% and 22.0%, respectively.
Nassau & Suffolk Counties, NY led the nation in year-over-year sales growth, up 22.1%, followed by Camden, NJ, up 17.0%. Detroit rounded out the top three with sales up 6.9% from a year ago.

Inventory

  • San Jose, CA had the highest increase in the number of homes for sale, up 131.3% year over year, followed by Seattle (117.8%) and Oakland, CA (69.0%).
  • New Orleans had the largest decrease in overall inventory, falling 32.3% since December 2017. Montgomery County, PA (-24.3%), Philadelphia (-22.4%), and Rochester, NY (-22.3%) also saw far fewer homes available on the market than a year ago.

To read the full report, complete with graphs, charts and market-level data, please visit: www.redfin.com.

About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is the next-generation real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the consumer’s favor. Founded by software engineers, Redfin has the country’s #1 brokerage website and offers a host of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate, the automated home-value estimate with the industry’s lowest published error rate for listed homes. Homebuyers and sellers enjoy a full-service, technology-powered experience from Redfin real estate agents, while saving thousands in commissions. Redfin serves more than 85 major metro areas across the U.S. The company has closed more than $60 billion in home sales.

Trulia: Price Cuts Reach Highest Level Since 2014

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A shift towards a buyer’s market may be underway, according to a new Trulia analysis

San Francisco, CA – Oct. 11, 2018 (PRNewswire) The share of home listings with a price cut grew to its highest level since 2014, according to a new analysis from Trulia®, a home and neighborhood site for home buyers and renters. In August 2018, 17.2 percent of U.S. listings had a price cut, up from 16.7 percent a year ago.

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For much of the first half of 2018 the share of listings on Trulia with a price cut was largely unchanged from 2017, before shooting up in July and August. Coupled with home price growth that has begun to slow, and inventory levels that are creeping back up in some places, a higher rate of price cuts could be a critical third confirmation that things may finally be shifting in buyers’ favor.

“Buyers should be encouraged by the signals we’re seeing in the market,” Trulia Housing Economist Felipe Chacon. “But not all buyers will benefit equally, and it pays to do research on your preferred neighborhood. Price reductions typically aren’t uniformly spread out across a given city – some neighborhoods might have a lot of listings with a reduced price, others may have none. Our research shows that price cuts are much more prevalent in higher-cost neighborhoods, so budget-conscious buyers may have some trouble finding a bargain.”

Of the top 100 metros, 63 had a higher share of listings with a price cut this August than last August – and some of the priciest and/or fastest-growing markets experienced the biggest jump. In fast-moving Las Vegas, the share of listings with a price cut rose from roughly one-in-eight a year ago (12.6 percent) to more than one-in-five currently (20.8 percent) – the largest percentage-point jump among all metros analyzed. In San Jose, where the median home is worth more than $1.2 million and home values are growing more than 20 percent year-over-year, the share of listings with a price cut in August more than doubled compared to August 2017.

Better Bargains in Expensive Neighborhoods

While increasing price reductions is welcome news for most, not all home buyers are likely to benefit equally. To run our analysis at the neighborhood level, we examined all listings in a given area over the past 12 months (Sept 2017 – Aug 2018) and calculated the percent of these listings that had at least one price reduction over the course of the year.

In 79 of the largest 100 metros, a higher share of homes listed in more-expensive neighborhoods are experiencing price reductions than those listed in less expensive areas. In Camden, N.J., 21.5 percent of listings in the most expensive neighborhood of Springdale had a price cut; while in Bergen Square, one of Camden’s least-expensive neighborhoods, just 8.6 percent of listings had a price cut. Similarly, Raleigh N.C.’s, more expensive Glenwood and Five Points neighborhoods have seen 18.9 percent and 16.7 percent of their listings go through at least one price cut over the past 12 months; while the less expensive areas of South Raleigh and Southeast Raleigh only saw 5.8 percent and 6.7 percent of listings with a price cut.

Size of Price Cuts Continue to Shrink

Although we’re seeing more price cuts nationwide, the reductions themselves are getting smaller. For the 12 months ending August 2018, the median price reduction nationwide knocked 2.6 percent off the listing price. This has been declining steadily since 2012, when the median price reduction was 4 percent. The median value of a price reduction today is less than the median price reduction at the outset of the recovery in 97 of the 100 largest metros analyzed.

The smallest price cuts today, at just 1.3 percent at the median, can currently be found in San Antonio. The largest price drops are found on homes in San Francisco and Detroit, where listings that go through a price reduction see a median drop of 4.6 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively.

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Note: Click here for the full data

For more information, please check out Trulia’s Latest Price Cuts Report for a more detailed analysis.

About Trulia

Trulia’s mission is to build a more neighborly world by helping you discover a place you’ll love to live. Homebuyers and renters use Trulia’s website and suite of mobile apps to get a deeper understanding of homes and neighborhoods across the U.S. through personalized recommendations, insights sourced straight from locals, and 34 neighborhood map overlays that offer details on commute, reported crime, schools, nearby businesses, and more. Founded in 2005, Trulia is based in San Francisco, and owned and operated by Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z and ZG). Trulia is a registered trademark of Trulia, LLC.

For further information:

pr@trulia.com

Redfin Report: Home Prices Up 5.3% in July, Continuing a Trend of Moderating Growth

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Sales Rebounded, up 4.1%, as Inventory Declined Just 5.4% from Last Year

San Jose, Seattle and Portland Posted Double-Digit Inventory Increases for the Second Month in a Row

Home-Selling Speed Slowed Dramatically in Washington, D.C. as it Accelerated in Indianapolis and Atlanta

Seattle, WA – Aug. 17, 2018 (PRNewswire) (NASDAQ: RDFN) U.S. home-sale prices increased 5.3 percent year over year to a median of $307,400 in July, according to Redfin (www.redfin.com), the next-generation real estate brokerage. The price growth rate has been dropping for five consecutive months and has not been this low since September 2016. Homes sales increased 4.1 percent in July compared to July 2017 as inventory declines continued to moderate.

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The number of homes for sale in July was down 5.4 percent year over year. This marks the third month of supply declines around 5 percent following 19 months of inventory declines of over 7 percent.

Homes that sold in July went under contract in a median 35 days, three days faster than last year and one day slower than in June. While homes are still selling near a record-fast pace, there are some signs competition is waning. For the first time since March 2015, the share of homes that sold above asking price declined year over year– albeit slightly– from 26.5 in July 2017 to 26.2 percent last month. Twenty-eight percent of homes on the market in July had a price drop, the largest share on record since Redfin began tracking this metric in 2009, and a 3.2 percentage-point increase over last July. It’s worth noting that the share of homes with price drops typically peaks each year in July or August.

Metro Trends

For the second month in a row, inventory increased year over year by double digits in San Jose, California, (28.0%) Seattle (27.0%) and Portland, Oregon, (21.8%). These markets also experienced sales declines of 11.9 percent, 6.4 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively. In Portland, homes took a median 15 days on market (DOM) to sell, a full week longer than last July. In San Jose (16 DOM) and Seattle (9 DOM), it took one and two days longer, respectively, for homes to find a buyer this July compared to last year.

Home prices continued to rise in these metros year over year, but they are rising at a slower rate. In Portland, home prices were up 4 percent year over year, the lowest price growth in 41 months. Seattle home prices increased 8 percent compared with last year, the lowest growth in 27 months. San Jose home prices grew 19.3 percent. While still the highest growth of any metro Redfin tracks, this was the lowest price growth San Jose has seen in nine months.

Taylor Marr, Redfin senior economist, said, “The Bay Area, Seattle and Portland have been so competitive for so long that buyers and sellers have adjusted to those conditions and may feel uneasy about the changes we’re seeing in the market. After several years of shrinking inventory and unsustainable price growth, I’m encouraged by these changes as a signal that we may be returning to a healthier, more balanced market.”

The market is also slowing down in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore where homes took 19 days and 10 days longer to sell than last year, respectively. Home prices grew just 0.7 percent in Washington, D.C. and fell 0.5 percent in Baltimore. Sales in Washington, D.C. grew 12.7 percent as inventory increased 9.1 percent. Baltimore sales surged 55.7 percent compared to last July, though this can be partially attributed to unusually low number of sales last year. The supply of homes in Baltimore declined less than a percent in July compared to last year.

Mary Bazargan, a Redfin agent in Washington, D.C. says well-priced homes in popular neighborhoods continue to get interest, but buyers seem more hesitant to write offers.

“I recently listed a gorgeous D.C. home at a price we thought would attract multiple offers the first week, but despite a lot of tours, it took three weeks to receive an offer. That kind of buyer reluctance is becoming more common, so it’s important that sellers are informed about what’s been happening over the past few weeks, instead of aligning their expectations with what happened in April or May.”

While these hot coastal markets are showing signs of cooling, competition is heating up in some smaller, inland metros. In Indianapolis the typical home that sold in July found a buyer in 10 days, 25 days faster than last July. In Atlanta (23 DOM); Rochester, New York (15 DOM); Buffalo, New York (14 DOM); and Knoxville, Tennessee (55 DOM), homes sold more than two weeks faster this year compared to last year.

Jake Johnson, Redfin’s market manager in Indianapolis, said a drastic year-over-year decline in inventory (-27.6%) is causing competition to escalate. “We’re caught in the cycle where sellers are afraid to list because they aren’t sure if they’ll find a home to buy. In popular neighborhoods, homes that would have received two or three offers last year are getting eight to 10. Homes in the $250,000 to $350,000 price range are going under contract within days. Because Indianapolis hasn’t traditionally been a hot market, we’re educating buyers about how the market is changing and how we can craft an offer to win in a bidding war.”

Other July Highlights

Speed and Competition

  • Grand Rapids, MI was the fastest market, with half of all homes pending sale in just 8 days, down from 11 days from a year earlier. Boston, Denver and Seattle were the next fastest markets with 9 median days on market, followed by Indianapolis (10).
  • The most competitive market in July was San Francisco where 76.3% of homes sold above list price, followed by 71.7% in San Jose, CA, 70.0% in Oakland, CA, 51.3% in Tacoma, WA, and 50.8% in Boston.

Prices

  • San Jose, CA had the nation’s highest price growth, rising 19.3% since last year to $1,163,500. Detroit had the second highest growth at 15% year-over-year price growth, followed by Tacoma, WA (12.7%), Memphis, TN (12.5%), and Salt Lake City (12.2%).
  • 2 metros saw price declines in July: Camden, NJ (-0.9%), and Baltimore (-0.5%).

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    Sales

    • 13 out of 73 metros saw sales surge by double digits from last year. Baltimore led the nation in year-over-year sales growth, up 55.1%, followed by Camden, NJ, up 40.8%. Oklahoma City rounded out the top three with sales up 20.1% from a year ago.
    • Miami saw the largest decline in sales since last year, falling 17.9%. Home sales in Buffalo, NY and San Jose, CA declined by 12.9% and 11.9%, respectively.

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      Inventory

      • San Jose, CA had the highest increase in the number of homes for sale, up 28.0% year over year, followed by Seattle (27.0%) and Portland, OR (21.8%).
      • Las Vegas had the largest decrease in overall inventory, falling 33.6% since last July. Albuquerque, NM (-32.1%), Indianapolis (-27.6%), and Rochester, NY (-26.2%) also saw far fewer homes available on the market than a year ago.

      Redfin Estimate

      • The median list price-to-Redfin Estimate ratio was 92.5% in San Francisco, CA, the lowest of any market. This indicates the typical home for sale in July was listed below its estimated value. Only 5.9% of homes in San Francisco, CA were listed for more than their Redfin Estimate.
      • Conversely, the median list price-to-Redfin Estimate ratio was 102.3% in Miami, FL and 102.0% in West Palm Beach, FL, which means sellers are listing their homes for more than the estimated value in those metro areas. In Miami, FL, 84.4% of homes were listed above their Redfin Estimate, the highest percentage of any metro.

      To read the full report, complete with charts and market-level data, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/blog/2018/08/market-tracker-july-2018.html.

      About Redfin

      Redfin (www.redfin.com) is the next-generation real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the consumer’s favor. Founded by software engineers, Redfin has the country’s #1 brokerage website and offers a host of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate, the automated home-value estimate with the industry’s lowest published error rate for listed homes. Homebuyers and sellers enjoy a full-service, technology-powered experience from Redfin real estate agents, while saving thousands in commissions. Redfin serves more than 80 major metro areas across the U.S. The company has closed more than $60 billion in home sales.