SEATTLE, Oct. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- (NASDAQ: RDFN) —
The national median home price rose 14.4% year over year to
$333,900 in September, the biggest
annual increase of any month since at least 2012, according to a
new report from Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered
real estate brokerage. Prices continue to rise due to record-low
mortgage rates, a historic shortage of housing supply and
pandemic-driven demand for spacious homes.
"2020 will be known for a lot of things and a record-breaking
year for real estate will certainly be one of its more unexpected
legacies," said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. "Demand typically abates in
late summer and early fall, but seasonal patterns don't stand a
chance against the other factors motivating homebuyers this year.
Homebuyers are seeking spacious homes in areas outside big cities
to accommodate homeschooling and remote work. That plus low
mortgage rates and record-low inventory are fueling historically
high price growth and the fastest market in recent history."
Median prices increased year over year in every single one of
the 87 largest metro areas Redfin tracks. Bridgeport, CT (+33.1%) and Memphis, TN (+29.7%) had the biggest annual
increases for the second month in a row, followed by Philadelphia (+23.6%). Honolulu saw the smallest increase, though
prices were still up by a strong 5.3% year over year, followed by
Milwaukee (+6.1%) and Baton Rouge
(+6.2%).
Market
Summary
|
September
2020
|
Month-Over-Month
|
Year-Over-Year
|
Median sale
price
|
$333,900
|
1.7%
|
14.4%
|
Homes sold,
seasonally adjusted
|
620,100
|
4.1%
|
17.6%
|
Pending sales,
seasonally adjusted
|
601,600
|
7.3%
|
32.9%
|
New listings,
seasonally adjusted
|
661,700
|
1.0%
|
5.9%
|
All Homes for sale,
seasonally adjusted
|
1,655,900
|
-2.1%
|
-22.8%
|
Median days on
market
|
29
|
-2
|
-12
|
Months of
supply
|
1.6
|
-0.1
|
-1.5
|
Sold above
list
|
33.9%
|
1.7
pts†
|
11.3
pts†
|
Median Off-Market
Redfin Estimate
|
$322,700
|
2.5%
|
3.8%
|
Average
Sale-to-list
|
99.4%
|
0.2
pts†
|
1.2
pts†
|
† - "pts" =
percentage point change
|
Home sales were up 17.6% in September from a year earlier on a
seasonally adjusted basis, another metric that represents the
biggest increase since Redfin started tracking housing market
data.
Home sales increased in September from a year earlier in all but
two of the largest metro areas—only Buffalo, NY (-6.7%) and Memphis (-1.8%) experienced annual drops. The
largest increases were in Bridgeport,
CT (+80.2%), San Francisco
(+48.5%) and Lake County, IL
(+47.3%).
Active listings—the count of all homes that were for sale at any
time during the month—fell 22.8% year over year on a seasonally
adjusted basis to their lowest level on record in September,
the thirteenth straight month of declines. Intense demand from
buyers is contributing to the continuing housing shortage, as is
the fast pace of the market.
"It's a great time to be a seller, but tough to be a buyer,"
said San Diego Redfin agent Charles
Wheeler. "People walk into a home and think 'wow, this is
amazing,' but 100 other people are thinking the same thing. People
are listing their homes and within three days they're gone."
"Low rates are the main motivator for buyers, and they're also
seeing that the pandemic isn't really slowing down and they want to
move into a bigger home with a big backyard," Wheeler continued.
"Because of the pandemic, people who have been lucky enough to keep
their jobs are saving more money than usual because they're not
going on vacations or going out to eat. They've been able to save
more toward a down payment and they have the means to buy a home to
make their socially distant lifestyles more comfortable."
For the second month in a row, San
Francisco (+51%) and New York
City (+20%) were the only two of the largest 87 metros
tracked by Redfin to post a year-over-year increase in the number
of homes for sale. As companies continue to loosen their
work-from-home policies, people are leaving expensive cities to
work remotely from places with more affordable housing markets.
Movement out of places like San
Francisco and New York City
is having a measurable impact on smaller, more affordable markets
around the country. In Western New
York, Rochester and
Buffalo were two of the most
competitive markets of September, with about 60% of homes in each
metro selling above list price. And Tacoma, smaller and more affordable than
Seattle, its neighbor to the
north, was the fastest market in the country for the third month in
a row.
It's also worth noting that even though listings were up
significantly in San Francisco,
home sales were also up by 48.5% year over year, outpacing national
home-sale growth.
The number of new listings of homes for sale increased 5.9% in
September from a year earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis, the
third such increase in a row after four straight months of
declines, starting with the onset of the pandemic in March. It's
the biggest increase in new listings since November 2015. The uptick contributed to an
increase in pending sales, which were up 32.9% from a year ago on a
seasonally adjusted basis.
The record-high price growth is partly due to the speed of the
market and competition, which both bucked the typical seasonal
slowdown this time of year to set their own records.
The typical home that sold in September went under contract in
29 days, the fastest pace on record, 12 days less than a year
earlier and two days less than August. This is the first time since
Redfin started tracking housing data when more than half of homes
nationwide went under contract in less than a month.
In September, 33.9% of homes sold above list price—the highest
level ever recorded by Redfin—and up from 22.6% a year earlier.
To read the full report, including charts and additional
metro-level data highlights, please visit:
https://www.redfin.com/news/housing-market-news-september-2020.
About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a
technology-powered residential real estate company, redefining real
estate in the consumer's favor in a commission-driven industry. We
do this by integrating every step of the home buying and selling
process and pairing our own agents with our own technology,
creating a service that is faster, better and costs less. We offer
brokerage, iBuying, mortgage, and title services, and we also run
the country's #1 real estate brokerage search site, offering a host
of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate. We
represent people buying and selling homes in over 90 markets in
the United States and Canada. Since our launch in 2006, we have
saved our customers over $800 million
and we've helped them buy or sell more than 235,000 homes worth
more than $115 billion.
For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate
agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends
and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center. To be added to
Redfin's press release distribution list, email press@redfin.com.
To view Redfin's press center, click here.
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SOURCE Redfin