Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey^® (PMMS^®), showing the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.95 percent.

“Mortgage rates continue to hover around seven percent, as the dynamics of a once-hot housing market have faded considerably,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “Unsure buyers navigating an unpredictable landscape keeps demand declining while other potential buyers remain sidelined from an affordability standpoint. Yesterday’s interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve will certainly inject additional lead into the heels of the housing market.”

News Facts

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.95 percent with an average 0.8 point as of November 3, 2022, down from last week when it averaged 7.08 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.09 percent.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.29 percent with an average 1.2 point, down from last week when it averaged 6.36 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.35 percent.
• 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 5.95 percent with an average 0.2 point, down from last week when it averaged 5.96 percent. A year ago at this time, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.54 percent.

The PMMS^® is focused on conventional, conforming, fully amortizing home purchase loans for borrowers who put 20 percent down and have excellent credit. Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining the mortgage. Visit the following link for the Definitions. Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey.

NOTE: Freddie Mac is making a number of enhancements to the PMMS to improve the collection, quality and diversity of data used. Instead of surveying lenders, the weekly results will be based on applications received from thousands of lenders across the country that are submitted to Freddie Mac when a borrower applies for a mortgage. Additionally, we will no longer publish fees/points or adjustable rates. The newly recast PMMS will be put in place on November 17, 2022, and the weekly distribution will be Thursdays at 12 p.m. ET.

The U.S. housing market is offering home shoppers more options this fall than in 2021, as inventory increased 26.9% year-over-year in September, according to the Realtor.com^® Monthly Housing Trends Report released today. While yearly listing price growth remained in the double-digits in September (+13.9%), the pace continued to moderate, suggesting that a rise in relatively affordable for-sale homes could be in store for buyers in the final months of 2022.

“Home prices have been remarkably resilient so far this year, considering the impact that inflation and climbing rates are having on buyers’ budgets. Recent data does show some deceleration in listing prices, and a seasonal pull back that is typical of this time of year. On the flip side, this cooling is likely one reason why fewer sellers entered the market in September,” said Danielle Hale, Chief Economist for Realtor.com^®. “For homeowners deciding whether to make a move this year, remember that listing prices – while lower than a few months ago – remain higher than in prior years, so you’re still likely to find opportunities to cash-in on record-high levels of equity, particularly if you’ve owned your home for a longer period of time. And for prospective buyers grappling with affordability, you may have more bargaining power than you realize, particularly in areas where time on market is rising.”

September 2022 Housing Metrics – National

Inventory improvements hold steady even as new sellers hit pause
The U.S. supply of active listings remained higher than last year in September, but improvements failed to accelerate over last month as newly listed homes continued to drop. With higher rates resulting in less demand and fewer home sales, seller sentiment continues to decline and impact homeowner plans to list. Still, today’s buyers have significantly more options than during the worst of the inventory crunch of the previous two years. This is especially true in many southern and western markets, where competition has cooled compared to the COVID frenzy.

• Nationally, the inventory of homes actively for sale on a typical day in September increased 26.9% (+155,000) year-over-year, holding on par with the August pace (+26.9%). Newly-listed homes were down 9.8% year-over-year, a slight improvement over last month’s rate of decline (-13.0%).
• Compared to last year, inventory increased in 36 out of 50 of the largest metros, led by markets in the West (+64.2%) and South (+57.5%): Phoenix (+167.3%), Raleigh, N.C. (+166.1) and Nashville, Tenn. (+125.3%).
• In September, active listings dropped year-over-year in just one region, the Northeast (-6.0%). New listings declined from September 2021 levels in all four regions, led by the Northeast (-17.2%) and followed by the Midwest (-14.0%), West (-12.2%) and South (-3.9%).
• Among the 50 largest U.S. metros, just eight saw the number of new sellers increase over September 2021 levels: New Orleans (+119.3% as last year was impacted by Hurricane Ida), Nashville. (+19.6%), Tampa, Fla. (+9.2%), Dallas (+9.1%), Birmingham, Ala. (+6.1%), Houston (+3.6%), San Antonio (+2.9%) and Raleigh (+2.0%).

Home price growth continues to moderate but remains in the double-digits
In September, national home listing prices increased at a faster September pace than in any prior year in our data’s history, despite continuing to moderate from June’s peak growth rate. Driven by the combination of still-high listing prices and climbing mortgage rates, a typical monthly mortgage payment was 70% higher in September compared to a year ago. As a result of these cost pressures, recent home sales data indicates that some home shoppers are putting plans on pause, giving those who remained in the market more power to negotiate price reductions in September.

• The U.S. median listing price was $427,000, up 13.9% year-over-year. However, listing prices declined from June’s peak median ($449,000) and annual growth rate (+18.2%).
• Nationally, the share of homes having their price reduced grew to 19.5% from 11.0% last September, and also climbed higher than typical 2017 and 2019 levels (18.7%).
• Among the 50 largest U.S. metros, southern and midwestern markets (+11.8%, on average) led the charge in yearly listing price growth in September, with the biggest increases registered in Miami (+28.3%), Memphis, Tenn. (+27.3%), and Milwaukee (+27.0%). Listing prices declined in just two markets: New Orleans (-2.3%) and Pittsburgh (-0.8%).
• Western metros posted the biggest gains in the share of listings with price reductions, led by Phoenix (+32.3 percentage points), Austin, Texas (+27.4 percentage points) and Las Vegas(+20.0 percentage points).

Time on market remains higher than last year but is still historically-fast
In September, a typical home spent more days on market than last year, after first hitting that milestone just last month. As inventory continues to rise this fall compared to last year, homebuyers have relatively more breathing room to make decisions. This was true of September time on market trends nationwide, as well as in all four regions and in the vast majority of U.S. metros. However, compared to historical norms in prior years, homes continue to sell at a faster pace so far in 2022.

• The typical U.S. home spent 50 days on the market in September, up seven days year-over-year compared to an annual increase of four days in August, which marked the first increase since the early days of COVID. Nonetheless, time on market was still 18 days faster than the typical September 2017-2019 pace.
• Homes spent longer on the market than last year across regions: The West, up 10 days; the South, up six days; the Northeast, up five days; and the Midwest, up five days.
• Relative to the national pace, time on market slowed similarly across the 50 largest U.S. metros, on average, up seven days year-over-year to a median of 43 days. Among these markets, the biggest yearly time on market increases were in Austin (+23 days), Raleigh (+23 days), Phoenix (+17 days) and Las Vegas (+17 days).
• In September, homes sold more quickly than last year in just five metros: New Orleans (-9 days, again reflecting the impact of Hurricane Ida last year), Richmond, Va. (-6 days), Miami (-2 days), Atlanta (-1 days) and Houston (-1 day).

read more…

news.move.com

Compass and Redfin make cuts amid volatile market

On Tuesday, the other shoe dropped. With mortgage rates now north of 6% and the stock market officially in bear territory, two of America’s most prominent real estate brokerages instituted large-scale layoffs and halted expansion efforts.

Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said the brokerage/listings platform made the tough decision to lay off 470 workers across several divisions, including its engineering department.

“We raised hundreds of millions of dollars so we wouldn’t have to shed people after just a few months of uncertainty,” he wrote in a filing to the Securities and Exchanges Commission. “But mortgage rates increased faster than at any point in history. We could be facing years, not months, of fewer home sales, and Redfin still plans to thrive. If falling from $97 per share to $8 doesn’t put a company through heck, I don’t know what does.”

Meanwhile, venture-backed Compass laid off 450 workers, halted expansion plans and even briefly paused trading of its stock, which had fallen from a debut price of $20.15 in April 2021, to $4.51 a share. Compass on Tuesday said that it has shut down Modus Technologies, a Seattle-based company that Compass bought in October 2020, heralding its entry point into the title and escrow space. It also plans to reduce costs by not backfilling roles and by getting out of real estate office leases.

Both Redfin and Compass are considered disruptors in the real estate industry, but neither has managed profitability. Redfin is rare in that it has salaried real estate agents as opposed to independent contractors. Its foray into iBuying has hurt its bottom line, and its business model is vulnerable to sudden shifts in the market. Compass, which lured top-performing agents with high commission splits and large signing bonuses, has struggled to contain costs.

The uptick in mortgage rates from the 3% range in January to over 6% in June and resulting drop in home sales volume has put immense pressure on virtually all real estate brokerages and mortgage lenders over the past two quarters.

HousingWire recently spoke with Jon Irvine, Chief Production Officer at Change Lending, about how brokers can gain a new competitive advantage in the current tight market.

It reached a tipping point this week following a worse-than-expected report on inflation on Friday and corresponding speculation about what the Federal Reserve would do this week to combat inflation. Many Fed observers expect the central bank to raise rates by 75 basis points on Wednesday. It is likely to trigger more layoffs across the real estate and mortgage industries.

Such market volatility has led to sleepless nights for real estate agents and LOs as well as buyers and sellers in recent few days.

“Interest rates are obviously rising and they are probably going to go up quite a bit again this week, so I’ve got buyers that are under contract now, but not closed and they are all texting me going, ‘Oh no, look at this,’” Anne-Marie Wurzel, who leads a top real estate team for Mainframe Real Estate in Orlando, Florida, told RealTrends. “But I tell them that this is why the lender and I wanted them to lock in on a rate and close a couple of days early so they could keep their rate. So buyers are getting concerned.”

Melissa Cohn, a veteran mortgage banker at William Raveis Mortgage, described Friday and Monday as “a bloodbath.” Industry pros are going to have to grit and bear it until stability in the market is achieved, but a return to normal will happen, she said. It’s just not exactly clear when.

“It’s nonsensical – rates don’t go up 50 basis points in three days,” she said. “This is just an overreaching concern about the Fed not being proactive enough and looking for real guidance.”

read more…

housingwire.com/articles/

Housing affordability posted a modest gain for average conditions in the first quarter of 2022 as a strong jump in national median income helped to offset a gradual rise in interest rates. However, home builders warn of current deteriorating conditions as a sharp jump in mortgage rates in March and April coupled with ongoing building material supply chain disruptions, labor shortages and high inflation drive up housing costs.

According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI), 56.9% of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of January and end of March were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $90,000. While this is up from the 54.2% of homes sold in the fourth quarter of 2021, current market indicators point to worsening affordability conditions.

The first quarter HOI was calculated based on the following key factors:

• An average quarterly interest rate of 3.86%, up 70 basis points from the previous quarter
• A 2022 median income of $90,000, up from last year’s $79,900.
• A national median home price of $365,000, up $5,000 from the fourth quarter of 2021 and a whopping $45,000 from the first quarter of 2021.

Affordability Dips Below 50% Based on Recent Mortgage Rates

Keeping all other factors the same and calculating nationwide affordability conditions based on end of April mortgage rates of 5.11% instead of the first quarter average of 3.86%, the HOI would have fallen from 54.2 in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 48.7 today.

This means that based on where the housing market stands today, just 48.7% of homes sold in the first quarter were affordable to median-income families, the lowest affordability level recorded on the HOI since the beginning of the revised series in the first quarter of 2012.

“The first quarter reading is a backward gauge, as surging interest rates, ongoing building material supply chain constraints and labor shortages continue to raise construction costs and put upward pressure on home prices,” said NAHB Chairman Jerry Konter, a home builder and developer from Savannah, Ga.

Every quarter-point hike in mortgage rates means that 1.3 million households are priced out of the market for a nationwide median priced home. And with the Federal Reserve moving aggressively to raise short-term interest rates and reduce its holding of mortgage-backed securities to combat inflation that is running at a 40-year high, mortgage rates are expected to rise even further.

“Looking at current market conditions, affordability woes continue to mount as rising interest rates and home building material costs that are up 20% year-over-year are causing housing costs to rise much faster than wages,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “The HOI falling below 50 using these real-time estimates is an indication of significant housing affordability burdens, particularly for frustrated, prospective first-time buyers. The best way to ease growing affordability challenges is for policymakers to address ongoing supply chain disruptions that will allow builders to construct more affordable homes.”

The Most and Least Affordable Markets in the First Quarter

Lansing-East Lansing, Mich., was the nation’s most affordable major housing market, defined as a metro with a population of at least 500,000. There, 92.3% of all new and existing homes sold in the first quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $89,500.

Top five affordable major housing markets:

1. Lansing-East Lansing, Mich.
2. Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Ind.
3. Scranton—Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
4. Rochester, N.Y.
5. Dayton-Kettering, Ohio

Meanwhile, Wheeling, W.Va.-Ohio., was rated the nation’s most affordable small market, with 97.3% of homes sold in the first quarter being affordable to families earning the median income of $75,400.

Top five affordable small housing markets:

1. Wheeling, W.Va.-Ohio
2. Cumberland, Md.-W.Va.
3. Elmira, N.Y.
4. Utica-Rome, N.Y.
5. Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, Iowa-Ill.

For the sixth straight quarter, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif., remained the nation’s least affordable major housing market. There, just 8.3% of the homes sold during the first quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $90,100.

Top five least affordable major housing markets—all located in California:

1. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale
2. Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine
3. San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City
4. San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad
5. Stockton

The top five least affordable small housing markets were also in the Golden State. At the very bottom of the affordability chart was Salinas, Calif., where 9.2% of all new and existing homes sold in the first quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $90,100.

Top five least affordable small housing markets—all located in California:

1. Salinas
2. Santa Maria-Santa Barbara
3. San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles
4. Napa
5. Santa Cruz-Watsonville

Please visit nahb.org/hoi for tables, historic data and details.

read more…

nahb.org

Mortgage applications decreased 13.1 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 18, 2022. 

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 13.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 11 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 16 percent from the previous week and was 56 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 10 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 6 percent compared with the previous week and was 6 percent lower than the same week one year ago.  

“Mortgage applications dropped to their lowest level since December 2019 last week, as mortgage rates continued to inch higher. The 30-year fixed rate was 4.06 percent, almost a full percentage point higher than a year ago. Higher mortgage rates have quickly shut off refinances, with activity down in six of the first seven weeks of 2022. Conventional refinances in particular saw a 17 percent decrease last week,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “Purchase applications, already constrained by elevated sales prices and tight inventory, have also been impacted by these higher rates and declined for the third straight week. While the average loan size did not increase this week, it remained close to the survey’s record high.”  

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 50.1 percent of total applications from 52.8 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 5.1 percent of total applications.  

The FHA share of total applications increased to 8.7 percent from 8.3 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications increased to 9.9 percent from 9.3 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.4 percent from the week prior.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) increased to 4.06 percent from 4.05 percent, with points increasing to 0.48 from 0.45 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $647,200) increased to 3.84 percent from 3.81 percent, with points increasing to 0.45 from 0.39 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.  

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA increased to 4.09 percent from 4.01 percent, with points decreasing to 0.56 from 0.59 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.  

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.42 percent from 3.37 percent, with points decreasing to 0.45 from 0.50 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 3.26 percent from 3.36 percent, with points decreasing to 0.34 from 0.48 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week. 

“2021 continued to be a record-breaking year in real estate, not just in the markets we serve but also nationally,” Liz Nunan, president and CEO of Houlihan Lawrence, said in the brokerage’s newly released fourth-quarter report on lower Hudson Valley real estate.

Home sales in Westchester were up 10.4% for 2021, while Putnam and Dutchess counties reported gains of 8% and 2.7%, respectively. Nearly every submarket in Westchester posted double-digit sales gains, according to the report.

“While the first half of 2021 varied in specific metrics to the second half, two factors remained constant. The inventory was at an all-time low, and buyer demand was exceptionally strong,” Nunan said. “As the year progressed, the sales outpaced inventory replacement, and this further restriction led to a decline in pending sales and, eventually, closed sales.”

In the fourth quarter, the number of listings declined 42% in Westchester County year over year. In Putnam County, that number was down 34%, and in Dutchess County listings were down 44%.

“2022 will likely not see the record-breaking number of sales seen in 2021. But until the supply and demand fall into balance, the market will still be charged with buyers, and sellers will continue to prosper,” Nunan said.

In the fourth quarter, 1,669 single-family homes sold in Westchester, compared with 2,228 in the first quarter of 2020, a drop of 25.1%. The median sale price was $725,000, a 1% drop from $732,000 in the fourth quarter of 2020.

For all of 2021, 7,541 single-family homes changed hands in Westchester, compared with 6,649 in 2020, a 10.4% gain. The median sale price for the year went up to $780,000 from $735,000 in 2020, a 6.1% gain.

The number of condominiums sold in Westchester went up by 31.8% from 1,242 in 2020 to 1,637 in 2021. The median sale price also was up at $425, 000 in 2021 compared with $403,000 in 2020, a 5.5% increase.

In the fourth quarter, condo sales dropped 4.3% from 470 in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 450 in 2021’s fourth quarter. The median sale price increased 4.9% from $410,000 in Q4 of 2020 to $430,000 in Q4 of 2021.

Co-op sales in Westchester were up by 35.3% from 1,562 units sold in 2020 to 2,114 in 2021. The median sale price was $194,100, up 6.1% from 2020’s $183,000.

For the fourth quarter of 2021, co-op sales stood at 547 units, a 10.3% increase from the 496 units that changed hands in the fourth quarter of 2020. The median sale price inched up 2.9% from $185,000 in Q4 of 2020 to $190,400 in Q4 of 2021.

In Putnam, there were 1,342 single-family homes sold in 2021 compared with 1,241 in 2020. The median sale price for the year was $440,000, up 16% from 2020’s $379,999. It also was up 16% for the fourth quarter of 2021 compared with the fourth quarter of 2020, reaching $455,750 from $394,250.

There were 199 condos sold in Putnam during the year, compared with 175 sold in 2020, a 15% increase. The median sale price was up 12.7% at $290,000 compared with 2020’s $257,250. For the fourth quarter of 2021, 43 units were sold, a drop of 28.3% from the 60 units sold in the fourth quarter of 2020. However, the median sale price went up 12.1% from $280,950 in Q4 of 2020 to $315,000 in Q4 of 2021.

In Dutchess County, 2,759 single-family homes were sold in 2021 compared with 2,686 in 2020. In the fourth quarter of 2021, 665 single-family homes sold compared with 997 in 2020’s fourth quarter, a drop of 33.3%. The median sale price rose 14.7% from $339,900 in 2020 to $390,000 in 2021. For the fourth quarter of 2021, the median sale price was up 7.3% to $396,000 from $369,000 in the same period in 2020.

There were 628 condominiums sold in 2021 in Dutchess, up 38% from the 455 that sold in 2020. There were 152 sold in Q4 of 2021 compared with 159 in Q4 of 2020, a 4.4% drop. The median condo sale price was $231,056 for Q4 of 2021, down 7.6% from $250,000 in the fourth quarter of 2020. For the year,the median sale price was $235,000, a 5.4% increase from 2020’s $225,000.

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westfaironline.com/144213/

New listings of homes for sale fell 9% from a year earlier and closed home sales were down 5%.

The median price of homes sold in September was $376,800, up 14% from a year earlier, the lowest growth rate since December 2020. September marked the 14th consecutive month of double-digit price gains. Closed home sales and new listings of homes for sale both fell from a year earlier, by 5% and 9% respectively.

“The severe lack of inventory is restricting home sales, said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “Even though plenty of people bought homes last year, many homebuyers waited while the pandemic went from bad to worse and remote-work policies were finalized. The homebuyers who are just beginning their search are finding that the well has run dry. But I am hopeful that as it becomes easier to get building materials, we will finally have a strong year for new construction in 2022. That’s what the market needs more than anything.”

† – ‘pts’ = percentage point change

Median sale prices increased from a year earlier in all but one of the 85 largest metro areas Redfin tracks: Bridgeport, CT, where prices were down 2.2%. A year ago prices were up 32% in Bridgeport as the area experienced a sudden flood of interest from homebuyers looking to leave New York. The current price decline is likely a cooling from an extremely overheated state.

The largest price increases in September 2021 were in North Port, FL (+30%), Salt Lake City (+28%) and Austin, TX (+27%).

Seasonally-adjusted home sales in September were down 5% from a year earlier, the second annual decline in 16 months. Home sales fell in 66 of the 85 largest metro areas Redfin tracks. The biggest sales declines were seen in New Orleans (-42%), Bridgeport, CT (-24%) and Salt Lake City (-23%). The largest gains were in places where sales were still somewhat depressed in September 2020, including New York (+26%), Honolulu (+24%), and San Jose, CA (+15%).

Seasonally adjusted active listings—the count of all homes that were for sale at any time during the month—fell 19% year over year in September, on par with the previous month.

Only three of the 85 largest metros tracked by Redfin posted a year-over-year increase in the number of seasonally adjusted active listings of homes for sale: Austin, TX (+3%), Tacoma, WA (+3%) and Columbus, OH (+0.3%). The biggest year-over-year declines in active housing supply in September were in Baton Rouge, LA (-53%), Salt Lake City (-50%) and Rochester, NY (-47%).

Seasonally adjusted new listings of homes for sale were down 9% in September from a year earlier, only the second decline since February. New listings fell from a year ago in 75 of the 85 largest metro areas. The biggest declines were in Baton Rouge (-59%), Allentown, PA (-57%) and Salt Lake City, UT (-51%). New listings rose the most from a year ago in Austin, TX (+18%), Tacoma, WA (+9%) and Portland, OR (+8%).

Measures of housing market competition based on completed home sales eased further in September.

The typical home that sold in September went under contract in 18 days—more than a week faster than a year earlier, when homes sold in a median 29 days, but up three days from the record low in June.

In September, 48% of homes sold above list price, down 8 percentage points from the record high in June, but up 14 percentage points from a year earlier.

The average sale-to-list price ratio also dipped slightly in September to 101%, down from a record high of 102.5% in June but up from 99.4% a year earlier.

Other September Highlights

Competition

• Indianapolis was the fastest market, with half of all homes pending sale in just 5 days, down from 7 days a year earlier. Denver was the next fastest market, with 6 median days on market, followed by Grand Rapids, MI, Seattle and Tacoma, WA all with 7 days on market.
• The most competitive market in September was Oakland, CA where 77.6% of homes sold above list price, followed by 75.5% in San Jose, CA, 71.4% in San Francisco, 69.5% in Rochester, NY, and 67.3% in Buffalo, NY.

Prices

• North Port, FL had the nation’s highest price growth, rising 29.7% since last year to $389,000. Salt Lake City had the second highest growth at 27.8% year-over-year price growth, followed by Austin, TX (27.3%), Phoenix (25.6%), and McAllen, TX (25.1%).
• 1 metro saw price declines in September: Bridgeport, CT (-2.2%).

Sales

• New York led the nation in year-over-year sales growth, up 25.9%, followed by Honolulu, HI, up 23.6%. San Jose, CA rounded out the top three with sales up 14.7% from a year ago.
• New Orleans saw the largest decline in sales since last year, falling 41.7%. Home sales in Bridgeport, CT and Salt Lake City declined by 23.5% and 23.3%, respectively.

Inventory

• Austin, TX had the highest increase in the number of homes for sale, up 3.3% year over year, followed by Tacoma, WA (2.6%) and Columbus, OH (0.3%).
• Baton Rouge, LA had the largest decrease in overall active listings, falling 52.6% since last September. Salt Lake City (-50.3%), Rochester, NY (-46.9%), and North Port, FL (-42.6%) also saw far fewer homes available on the market than a year ago.

Redfin Estimate

• Miami (86.3%) had the largest share of homes predicted to sell for below list price, according to Redfin Estimate data, followed by Fort Lauderdale, FL (82.0%) and West Palm Beach, FL (81.2%).
• Oakland, CA (93.6%) had the largest share of homes predicted to sell at or above list price, followed by San Jose, CA (92.7%) and Portland, OR (87.9%).

Below are market-by-market breakdowns for prices, inventory, new listings and sales for markets with populations of 750,000 or more. For downloadable data on all of the markets Redfin tracks, visit the Redfin Data Center.

Median Sale Price

Homes Sold

New Listings

All Homes for Sale

Median Off-Market Redfin Estimate

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redfin.com/news/

New home sales reversed direction in March, fully recovering from the 18.2 percent nosedive those sales took in February. The Census Bureau said sales of newly constructed homes rose 20.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.021 million units. This is 66.8 percent higher than the sales 612,000 unit pace in March 2020, although that rate was impacted by the pandemic shutdowns and was the highest annual sales rate since 2005.

February’s loss was also smaller than originally reported. Those sales were revised from 775,000 to 846,000 units.

Analysts’ estimates fell far short of the numbers reported. Those polled by Econoday had projected sales in a range of 820,000 to 950,000. The consensus was 887,000.

On a non-adjusted basis there were 97,000 new homes sold during the month, up from 70,000 the previous month. For the year to date sales have totaled 243,000 homes, a 34.4 percent increase over the 181,000 sales in the first three months of 2020.

The median price of a home sold in March was $330,800 and the average price was $397,800. In March 2020, the respective sales prices were $328,200 and $375,400.

At the end of the reporting period there were an estimated 307,000 new homes available for sale, identical to the inventory in February. However, due to the higher rate of sales this was estimated at a 3.6 month supply, down from 4.4 months in February. In March 2020, the supply was over 6 months.

Sales increased by double digits month over month in three of the four major regions but fell by double digits in the West where they were also down on an annual basis. The increase in the Northeast was 20 percent compared to February and 108.7 percent higher than the prior March. Sales in the Midwest rose 30.7 percent and 78.4 percent for the two periods.

The South posted a 40.2 percent gain for the month and 90.1 percent year-over-year. Sales in the West, which also posted poor March numbers for existing home sales, were down 30.0 percent from the prior month and dipped 2.0 percent from the year earlier level.

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/04232021_new_home_sales.asp