ra-florida-homes

Sellers’ Time on Market Doubles From Spring

japlady1@yahoo.com (Rachelle Arberman) — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 06:31:54 GMT

Redfin: Pending home sales and new listings both saw their biggest year-over-year drops since the pandemic’s start, hitting levels roughly on par with April 2020.

SEATTLE – Pending home sales and new listings both saw their biggest year-over-year drops since the start of the pandemic, dipping to levels roughly on par with April 2020, according to a new Redfin report , the technology-powered real estate brokerage.

U.S. housing market activity is continuing to slow down as mortgage rates sit at a 20-year high. Mortgage-purchase applications fell to their lowest level in 25 years, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Sales are dropping more than listings. Sellers are still catching on to the prices buyers who are in the market are willing and able to pay in the face of near-7% mortgage rates. Homes are taking twice as long to sell as they did in the spring. A record share of sellers are dropping their asking price and the typical home is selling for 1% less than its final asking price – the biggest discount since August 2020.

“With rates sitting above 6.5% for three weeks and no indication they’ll come down before the end of the year, people are only buying and selling homes if they need to,” said Redfin Economics Research Lead Chen Zhao. “Prospective buyers are waiting for prices and/or mortgage rates to come down and sellers want to squeeze as much money out of their sale as possible. Homes will eventually sell, but it may take a few months, and sellers need to meet buyers where they are. That means lower prices and negotiations, including things like giving buyers a credit to buy down their mortgage rate and paying for home repairs. Prospective sellers may also consider renting out their home for a few months until demand recovers.”

“Buyers should keep similar things in mind when they’re doing the math of which homes they can afford,” Zhao continued. “Try negotiating down the sale price; now may be the time to make what would have been considered a lowball offer six months ago. Ask for concessions and repairs to make up for high mortgage rates.”

Leading indicators of homebuying activity:

*For the week ending October 20, 30-year mortgage rates rose to 6.94%, up slightly from last week and a 20-year high.

*Fewer people searched for “homes for sale” on Google. Searches during the week ending October 15 were down 32% from a year earlier.

*The seasonally adjusted Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index – a measure of requests for home tours and other home-buying services from Redfin agents – was down 31% year over year to its lowest level since May 2020.

*Touring activity as of October 16 was down 25% from the start of the year, compared to an 8% increase at the same time last year, according to home tour technology company ShowingTime.

*Mortgage purchase applications were down 4.5% week over week (seasonally adjusted) to their lowest level since 1997 during the week ending October 14. They were down 38% from a year earlier.

Key housing market takeaways for 400+ U.S. metro areas:

Unless otherwise noted, this data covers the four-week period ending October 16. Redfin’s weekly housing market data goes back through 2015.

*The median home sale price was $367,083, up 6% year over year and on par with the previous week.

*Home-sale prices fell from a year earlier in three U.S. metro areas: Prices declined 4% year over year in Oakland, 2% in San Francisco and 1% in Philadelphia.

*The median asking price of newly listed homes increased 8% year over year to $378,225.

*The monthly mortgage payment on the median asking price home climbed to a near-record high of $2,552 at the current 6.94% mortgage rate, up 50% from $1,704 a year earlier, when mortgage rates were 3.01% and up from a recent low of $2,203 during the four-week period ending August 14.

*Pending home sales were down 32% year over year, the largest decline since April 2020.

*New listings of homes for sale were down 19% from a year earlier, the biggest decline since May 2020.

*Active listings (the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period) fell 1% from the prior four-week period. On a year-over-year basis, they rose 5%.

*Months of supply – a measure of the balance between supply and demand, calculated by dividing the number of active listings by closed sales – rose to 3.1 months. That marks the highest level since June 2020.

*35% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market, little changed from the prior four-week period but down from 39% a year earlier.

*23% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within one week of hitting the market, little changed from the prior four-week period but down from 28% a year earlier.

*Homes that sold were on the market for a median of 34 days, up more than a full week from 26 days a year earlier and the record low of 17 days set in May and early June. Typical time on market has steadily increased since June.

*30% of homes sold above final list price, down from 44% a year earlier and the lowest level since August 2020.

*On average, a record high 7.9% of homes for sale each week had a price drop, up from 3.9% a year earlier.

*The average sale-to-final-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, fell to 98.9% from 100.5% a year earlier. That’s the lowest level since August 2020.

NAR: Existing-Home Sales Decreased 1.5% in Sept.

Wed, 26 Oct 2022 06:19:08 GMT

National sales dropped for the eighth straight month, down 1.5% from Aug. and 23.8% year-to-year. However, median home prices continue to increase, up 8.4 % in Sept.

WASHINGTON – Existing-home sales descended in September, the eighth month in a row of declines, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Three out of the four major U.S. regions notched month-over-month sales contractions, while the West held steady. On a year-over-year basis, sales dropped in all regions.

Total existing-home sales, completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, retracted 1.5% from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.71 million in September. Year-over-year, sales waned by 23.8% (down from 6.18 million in September 2021).

“The housing sector continues to undergo an adjustment due to the continuous rise in interest rates, which eclipsed 6% for 30-year fixed mortgages in September and are now approaching 7%,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Expensive regions of the country are especially feeling the pinch and seeing larger declines in sales.”

Total housing inventory registered at the end of September was 1.25 million units, which was down 2.3% from August and 0.8% from the previous year. Unsold inventory sits at a 3.2-month supply at the current sales pace – unchanged from August and up from 2.4 months in September 2021.

“Despite weaker sales, multiple offers are still occurring with more than a quarter of homes selling above list price due to limited inventory,” Yun added. “The current lack of supply underscores the vast contrast with the previous major market downturn from 2008 to 2010, when inventory levels were four times higher than they are today.”

The median existing-home price for all housing types in September was $384,800, an 8.4% jump from September 2021 ($355,100), as prices climbed in all regions. This marks 127 consecutive months of year-over-year increases, the longest-running streak on record. It was the third month in a row, however, that the median sales price faded after reaching a record high of $413,800 in June, the usual seasonal trend of prices trailing off after peaking in the early summer.

Properties typically remained on the market for 19 days in September, up from 16 days in August and 17 days in September 2021. Seventy percent of homes sold in September 2022 were on the market for less than a month.

First-time buyers were responsible for 29% of sales in September, unchanged from August 2022 and slightly higher than 28% from September 2021. NAR’s 2021 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers – released in late 2021 – found that the annual share of first-time buyers was 34%.

All-cash sales accounted for 22% of transactions in September, down from 24% in August and 23% in September 2021.

Individual investors or second-home buyers, who make up many cash sales, purchased 15% of homes in September, down from 16% in August, but up from 13% in September 2021.

Distressed sales – foreclosures and short sales – represented 2% of sales in September, a marginal increase from 1% in August 2022 and September 2021.

According to Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was 6.11% in September, up from 5.22% in August. The average commitment rate across all of 2021 was 2.96%.

Realtor.com ®’s Market Trends Report in September shows that the largest year-over-year median list price growth occurred in Miami (+28.3%), Memphis (+27.3%) and Milwaukee (+27.0%). Phoenix reported the highest increase in the share of homes that had their prices reduced compared to last year (+32.3 percentage points), followed by Austin (+27.4 percentage points) and Las Vegas (+20.0 percentage points).

Single-family and condo/co-op sales

Single-family home sales declined to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.22 million in September, down 0.9% from 4.26 million in August and down 23.0% from the previous year. The median existing single-family home price was $391,000 in September, up 8.1% from September 2021.

Existing condominium and co-op sales were recorded at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 490,000 units in September, down 5.8% from August and 30.0% from one year ago. The median existing condo price was $331,700 in September, an annual increase of 9.8%.

“Buying or selling a home involves a series of requirements and variables, and it’s important to have someone in your corner from start to finish to make the process as smooth as possible,” said NAR President Leslie Rouda Smith.

“Realtors rely on in-depth knowledge of the market and objectivity to deliver trusted expertise to consumers in every U.S. ZIP code.”

Regional breakdown

Existing-home sales in the Northeast dwindled 1.6% from August to an annual rate of 610,000 in September, retreating 18.7% from September 2021. The median price in the Northeast was $418,500, an increase of 8.3% from one year ago.

Existing-home sales in the Midwest slid 1.7% from the previous month to an annual rate of 1,140,000 in September, falling 19.7% from September 2021. The median price in the Midwest was $281,500, up 6.9% from the prior year.

In the South, existing-home sales pulled back 1.9% in September from August to an annual rate of 2,080,000, a decline of 23.8% from this time last year. The median price in the South was $351,700, an increase of 11.8% from September 2021.

Existing-home sales in the West were identical to last month at an annual rate of 880,000 in September, but down 31.3% from one year ago. The median price in the West was $595,400, a 7.1% increase from September 2021.

Source: National Association of Realtors®