New listings rose 10 percent year-over-year during the four weeks ending Feb. 18, the biggest increase in two months, according to a new report from Redfin.
Home sellers are hoping to take advantage of high prices, with sale prices up 6 percent year-over-year, the biggest increase since October 2022.
But many buyers are still sitting on the sidelines. Mortgage-purchase applications dropped 10 percent from a week earlier as daily average mortgage rates surpassed 7 percent for the first time since mid-December, and pending home sales are down 7 percent year-over-year, similar to the declines seen since mid-January.
But some house hunters are jumping into the earliest stages of homebuying. Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index, which measures requests for tours and homebuying assistance from Redfin agents, is up from the low point it dropped to in mid-January, when harsh weather was freezing up demand.
Redfin agents report that today’s buyers are mostly interested in move-in ready homes because they don’t want to spend money on repairs and renovations in addition to high monthly payments. Agents also recommend that sellers are open to providing some sort of financial concession to buyers to help ease the pain of 7 percent rates.
“I tell every one of my sellers to have an open mind and put on their buyer's hat. Nine times out of 10, buyers are asking for a concession in their initial offer right now—and usually the seller needs to accept it to seal the deal,” Shauna Pendleton, a Redfin Premier agent in Boise, Idaho, said in a release. “The most common concession buyers are asking for is a mortgage-rate buydown. Requests for sellers to cover the closing costs are also common. I most often see buyers ask for concessions for more affordable homes—anything under $500,000 here in Boise—but I see some concessions on expensive homes, too.”