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Number of Homes for Sale Increased 4% in September, According to Latest Redfin ReportSEATTLE --(Business Wire)-- There was a rare late-season boost in the number of homes for sale in September. According to the latest Real-Time Housing Market Tracker report from customer-first brokerage Redfin, inventory increased by 4 percent over August and newly listed homes were up 2.1 percent. According to Redfin agents, this bump is because would-be sellers took longer to find homes to buy, which delayed them putting their homes on the market. But will new inventory bring buyers to the market this fall and winter? They'll be interested but cautious, according to Redfin agent Tom Lewis in Washington, D.C. "New inventory gets people's attention and gets them excited, but buyers are wary and know that new listings could be gone quickly if there is a lot of interest," he said. "Many of them are hesitant to step into a multiple-offer situation because they have lost offers on other homes. But if a home sticks around for a few days, then they'll be more willing to bite." Declining mortgage rates could create even more demand among buyers, who want to get in before an expected rise in rates next year. Demand has already been on the rise, with 6.8 percent more Redfin customers signing offers in September than the four weeks prior. So even though inventory is rising, it may not be enough to spur a long-term turnaround in housing supply to meet demand. As we predicted last month and as is typical in September, the median sale price continued to tick downward, this time 3.6 percent month over month. The median sale price of $268,700 is almost the same as in August of last year when it was $268,900. Year over year, prices will likely increase over the last few months of 2014, but we don't expect that growth to be higher than the 3.9 percent that prices were up in September over last year. Bolstering our view that price growth is likely to slow a bit more this year is a 30-month low in the number of homes that sold above their list price: 16.5 percent. Homes are also staying on the market four days longer than they wer last month, and the number of homes that sold in two weeks or less was down to 29.8 percent in September compared with 32.9 percent a year earlier. In line with seasonal trends, sales volume declined by 13.7 percent in September from August. We've seen a similar slump for the past three years in September when home sales declined by 18.3 percent, 18.5 percent and 11.9 percent in 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. Home sales were down by 1.7 percent from last September. To read the full report, complete with a summary of all housing metrics reported and market-by-market breakdowns of each, click or paste the following link: http://www.redfin.com/research/reports/real-time-housing-market-tracker/2014/market-tracker-september-2014.html. Connect with Redfin
Facebook About Redfin Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a customer-first real estate brokerage that represents people buying and selling homes. Founded and run by technologists, Redfin has a team of experienced, full-service real estate agents who are advocates, not salespeople, earning customer-satisfaction bonuses, not commissions. Redfin.com features all the broker-listed homes for sale, as well as for-sale-by-owner properties that don't pay brokers a commission. Redfin also offers online tools that make the entire process of buying or selling a home easier and more fun. The company serves major markets across the U.S. and has closed nearly $20 billion in home sales. In 2012, Redfin was named one of The DIGITAL 100: World's Most Valuable Private Tech Companies by Business Insider. |
