The housing market is finally showing signs of moderation typically seen in the fall, according to Zillow’s latest marketing report.
“Homebuyers shopping this fall shouldn’t expect the same frenzied demand that triggered bidding wars on listings this spring and summer,” Zillow Senior Economist Jeff Tucker said in a release. “The normal seasonal slowdown of autumn has returned, when many families are busy with back-to-school activities and planning for the holidays. Buyers can expect less competition, meaning more time to decide on a house and the potential for prices to fall on listings they’ve saved on Zillow.”
Although the market is still hotter than usual, October saw normal fall trends of declining list prices, longer times on market for listings and more homes receiving price cuts before sale. Those are indications that seasonality is returning, according to Zillow.
Home value appreciation slowed in October for the third month in a row, as home values rose 1.3 percent over September, slower than the all-time high monthly appreciation of 2 percent in July.
Home values didn’t drop in any of the 50 largest metros, but monthly home value growth decelerated in 42 of them, according to Zillow’s report. The slowest monthly growth was seen in Milwaukee (0.1 percent), San Francisco (0.3 percent), Buffalo, N.Y., (0.3 percent) and St. Louis (0.4 percent), while the fastest was in Raleigh, N.C., (2.7 percent), Nashville, Tenn., (2.4 percent) and Atlanta (2.3 percent).
Autumn and winter usually feature fewer homes on the market, along with less competition. The October report shows inventory down 17.4 percent from last year and contracting by 1.1 percent since September, after rising from May through September. October listings typically spent 10 days on the market, compared with nine in September and seven in April, May and June.
Median list prices have fallen since July, and the share of homes that saw a price cut before selling rose slightly over September, to 14.7 percent — nearly double the year’s low point in April. The most recent data on the share of homes that sold above list price shows a monthly decline of 6.6 percent in September to 47.2 percent, down from a peak of 51.3 percent in July.