The median home sale price rose 14 percent year-over-year to $359,750, just shy of its all-time high, according to Redfin report. At the same time, the number of homes for sale fell to an all-time low during the four-week period ending Dec. 12.
Homebuying demand continued to outpace supply, according to Redfin. The average home sold for more than its list price for the 39th week.
“Homebuyers are being hit particularly hard by this wave of inflation,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said in a release. “People who set out to buy a home in 2020 but delayed their plans or lost out in bidding wars may now find themselves priced out of homeownership. Right now, the only thing likely to slow the rate of home-price growth is a mortgage-rate hike, which would be something of a Pyrrhic victory for homebuyers.”
According to the report, the asking prices of newly listed homes were up 12 percent year-over-year and up 28 percent from 2019 to a median of $348,450. Pending home sales were up 4 percent year-over-year and up 50 percent from 2019.
New listings were down 8 percent year-over-year but up 12 percent from 2019. Active listings fell to a new all-time low, down 25 percent year-over-year and 43 percent from 2019.
Two in five homes that went under contract (42 percent) had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market, above the 36 percent rate of a year earlier and the 26 percent rate in 2019, and 31 percent had an accepted offer within one week of hitting the market, up from 26 percent a year earlier and 17 percent in 2019.
Homes that sold were on the market for a median of 26 days, down from 32 days a year earlier and 48 days in 2019.
The average sale-to-list price ratio was 100.4 percent. In other words, the average home sold for 0.4 percent above its asking price.