Redfin Reports U.S. Homes Are Selling at the Slowest Pace in 6 Years
Homes are taking longer to sell because many are overpriced and demand is sluggish. Plus, sellers are competing with each other—the supply of homes for sale hit a five-year high in March.
March marked five years since the coronavirus was declared a pandemic, and many
Homes are taking longer to sell and attracting less homebuyer competition because supply is climbing, demand is sluggish and some properties are overpriced. Meanwhile, demand is sluggish because economic uncertainty and high homebuying costs are giving house hunters pause.
The good news for buyers is that because supply is climbing, price growth is slowing.
Home Prices Are Increasing at the Slowest Pace in a Year and a Half
The median home-sale price in March was
When supply is on the rise, sellers lose negotiating power because buyers have more options to choose from. Still, many sellers are trying to fetch high prices. List prices have been growing faster than sale prices, and Redfin agents report that sellers are overpricing their homes, causing them to sit on the market.
“There’s a growing disconnect between what sellers think they can get for their homes and the direction the market is actually moving,” said Redfin Senior Economist
The typical home that sold in March sold for roughly 1% less than its list price.
The Supply of Homes for Sale Is at a
Active listings—the total number of homes for sale—hit the highest level in five years in March. They climbed 0.1% month over month on a seasonally adjusted basis and 14.1% year over year.
New listings hit the highest level since
“Many people who bought homes in 2021 and 2022 are selling now, some of them because they can’t afford their property taxes and insurance payments. Because they bought at the peak of the market, they’re overpricing their homes to try to recoup their investment,” she said. “Sellers are competing with one another, and buyers are sparse, so pricing your listing reasonably is everything right now.”
It’s worth noting that new listings are up more than average in both
Home Sales Are Steady, But Below Pre-Pandemic Levels
Pending home sales rose 1.7% month over month in March—the biggest gain in six months on a seasonally adjusted basis—and were little changed from a year earlier (-0.01%).
Closed home sales fell roughly 1% from both a month and a year earlier. Existing home sales (closed sales of non-newly-built homes) fell 1.3% month over month and 0.4% year over year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.15 million—the lowest level in six months. Closed sales are a lagging indicator because they reflect purchases that, while finalized in March, went under contract (AKA pending) during the several months leading up to March.
All three sales metrics—pending sales, closed sales and existing-home sales—are below pre-pandemic levels. Elevated mortgage rates are one reason sales are sluggish. The average 30-year-fixed mortgage rate was 6.65% in March—the lowest level since October but still more than double the record low hit during the pandemic.
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Month-over-month change |
Year-over-year change |
Median sale price |
|
1.5% |
2.5% |
Existing home sales, seasonally adjusted annual rate |
4,152,091 |
-1.3% |
-0.4% |
Pending home sales, seasonally adjusted |
486,263 |
1.7% |
0% |
Homes sold, seasonally adjusted |
421,018 |
-0.9% |
-1.3% |
New listings, seasonally adjusted |
563,684 |
0.7% |
6% |
Total homes for sale, seasonally adjusted (active listings) |
1,870,505 |
0.1% |
14.1% |
Months of supply |
3.1 |
-0.6 |
0.5 |
Median days on market |
47 |
-9 |
6 |
Share of homes that went off market in two weeks |
41% |
5.8 ppts |
-3.3 ppts |
Share of homes that sold above final list price |
27% |
2.3 ppts |
-2.9 ppts |
Average sale-to-final-list-price ratio |
98.8% |
0.4 ppts |
-0.4 ppts |
Pending sales that fell out of contract, as % of overall pending sales |
13.4% |
0.1 ppts |
0.2 ppts |
Monthly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate |
6.65% |
-0.19 ppts |
-0.17 ppts |
Metro-Level Highlights:
-
Prices: Median sale prices rose most from a year earlier in
Cleveland (11.8%),Nassau County, NY (9.8%) andNewark, NJ (9.5%). They fell in eight metros, most of which are inFlorida andTexas , where rising supply and soaring insurance costs have fueled a housing slowdown. The biggest declines were inJacksonville (-3.8%),San Francisco (-2.6%) andAustin (-1.6%). -
Pending home sales: Pending sales rose most in
Montgomery County, PA (13.7%),Denver (6.9%) andSacramento, CA (5.7%). They fell most inFort Lauderdale (-15.2%),Miami (-14.8%) andNewark (-9.6%). -
Closed home sales: Home sales rose most in
San Francisco (13%),Oakland, CA (11.7%) andNew York (5.3%). They fell most inSan Antonio (-16.2%),Warren, MI (-11.5%) andJacksonville (-10.1%). -
New listings: New listings rose most in
Los Angeles (23.5%),Boston (23.4%) andAnaheim, CA (23.3%). They fell in four metros:San Antonio (-7.3%),Kansas City, MO (-5.3%),Milwaukee (-1.8%) andJacksonville (-0.2%). -
Active listings: Active listings rose most in
Oakland (38.4%),Denver (37.7%) andLas Vegas (32%). They fell in three metros, all of which are in the Midwest:Kansas City (-2.5%),Detroit (-1.5%) andMilwaukee (-0.9%). -
Sold above list price: In San Jose, 71.2% of homes sold above their final list price, the highest share among the metros Redfin analyzed. Next came
Newark (62.5%) andSan Francisco (61.5%). The lowest shares were inFlorida :West Palm Beach (7.2%),Fort Lauderdale (8.4%) andMiami (8.5%). -
Days on market: In Fort Lauderdale, the typical home that went under contract did so in 88 days, up 24 days from a year earlier—the biggest increase among the metros Redfin analyzed. Next came
Miami (+19 days) andWest Palm Beach (+19 days).San Francisco was the only metro that saw a decrease (-1 day Y/Y). Days on market was unchanged inNassau County, New York andBoston .
To view the full report, including charts, full metro-level data and methodology, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/news/homes-sell-slowest-pace-since-2019
About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate company. We help people find a place to live with brokerage, rentals, lending, and title insurance services. We run the country's #1 real estate brokerage site. Our customers can save thousands in fees while working with a top agent. Our home-buying customers see homes first with on-demand tours, and our lending and title services help them close quickly. Our rentals business empowers millions nationwide to find apartments and houses for rent. Since launching in 2006, we've saved customers more than
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Source: Redfin