The national median home price posted the second-largest annual increase on record in October, rising 14.2 percent year-over-year to $335,900, according to a report from Redfin.
During October, home sales increased 24 percent year-over-year, the largest gain on record. New listings were up 12 percent.
“October very well may have been the hottest the housing market gets this year,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said in a release. “Buyers who stepped away from the market at the beginning of the pandemic had been making up for lost time, which sent prices skyrocketing.”
“But given that we are entering a winter wave of the pandemic, housing demand will likely lose a bit of steam until 2021, cooling the market from red-hot to just hot,” she said. “If you are a seller, it’s probably a good idea to wait until the new year to list your home, but if you are a buyer, right now is a short window of opportunity where competition likely won't be as intense as it was in October.”
According to the report, median prices increased in all but one of the 85 largest metro areas Redfin tracks. The only metro area where prices fell from a year earlier was Honolulu (-0.8 percent). The largest price increases were in Bridgeport, Conn. (+39 percent) Memphis (+30 percent); and Newark, N.J. (+24 percent).
“The market has definitely slowed in just the last couple of weeks,” said Atlanta Redfin real estate agent Ronisha Carson. “Affordable homes are still seeing multiple offers, but more expensive listings are receiving less interest from buyers. Even though homebuying activity has slowed down, I have had three sellers reach out to me just this week to get on the market. Last year we saw a spike in demand in January and I think we will see that again in 2021.”
Redfin said the biggest declines in active housing supply in October were in Allentown, Pa. (-50 percent); Kansas City, Mo. (-49 percent); and Salt Lake City (-49 percent).