Home values flatten as sellers outnumber buyers
Buyers wrestling with economic turmoil and affordability challenges were less motivated by lower rates in March
- Home values nearly stood still, rising 0.2% during a month normally characterized by high growth.
- New shoppers have 19% more options to choose from than a year ago, and a rising share of homes have been on the market for more than a month.
- Sellers cut prices on a record-high 23.5% of listings on Zillow.
"More sellers came out to test their luck as rates ticked down in March, but home sales didn't keep up. Buyers — especially first-timers without equity to pour into their down payment — continue to struggle with affordability and now are facing even higher levels of uncertainty," said Zillow Chief Economist
Sellers made a strong showing in March, putting more than 375,000 homes on the market — an increase of nearly 9% compared to the same time last year. While listing activity is still about 19% below a typical March before the pandemic, it's steadily rising month over month and tracking closely with seasonal trends.
While sellers leaned on the gas, buyers didn't keep up. Newly pending sales were essentially flat compared to last year, even though average mortgage rates were lower this year — 6.65% on average in March, compared to 6.82% a year before. About 265,000 listings went into a pending sale in March — 110,000 fewer than came on the market.
This mismatch pushed inventory up to 1.15 million homes — 19% over last year — the most inventory buyers have seen in March since 2020. Inventory now stands 24% below 2018-2019 averages for this time of year. That's a noticeable improvement from
With more options available, competition cooled, and home price growth slowed significantly. The typical home value rose 0.2% month over month in March, unadjusted for seasonality. That's by far the slowest growth for this time of year since at least 2018; the second-slowest was 0.7%. Still, home values fell monthly in just five major metros: the four major
Affordability is still challenging buyers. A mortgage payment on a typical home in March required about 35.3% of median household income nationwide when using a 20% down payment. That's a slight improvement over last year, but is still unaffordable. Spending more than 30% of income on housing is considered a financial burden, and a 20% down payment is a steep entry fee, coming out to about
Sellers cut prices at record rates to help bridge the gap to buyers. More than 23% of the listings on Zillow received a price cut in March, the highest share for any March since at least 2018.
|
Metro Area* |
Zillow |
ZHVI |
ZHVI |
Inventory |
New |
Newly |
Change in |
|
United |
|
1.2 % |
0.2 % |
19.3 % |
8.5 % |
0.3 % |
-4 |
|
|
|
4.8 % |
0.4 % |
-3.3 % |
3.5 % |
-7.3 % |
-20 |
|
|
|
2.4 % |
0.5 % |
42.0 % |
24.6 % |
1.5 % |
-2 |
|
|
|
4.1 % |
0.6 % |
1.8 % |
-2.2 % |
-0.9 % |
-9 |
|
|
|
-2.4 % |
0.1 % |
27.4 % |
7.2 % |
-5.2 % |
0 |
|
|
|
-0.9 % |
0.1 % |
28.7 % |
19.3 % |
1.7 % |
9 |
|
|
|
2.8 % |
0.5 % |
35.0 % |
26.7 % |
7.4 % |
-13 |
|
|
|
3.3 % |
0.5 % |
10.5 % |
11.5 % |
3.5 % |
-16 |
|
|
|
-1.5 % |
-0.4 % |
26.3 % |
7.2 % |
-14.0 % |
11 |
|
|
|
-1.8 % |
0.0 % |
33.6 % |
11.1 % |
-3.5 % |
15 |
|
|
|
2.9 % |
0.6 % |
10.4 % |
14.2 % |
-0.4 % |
-2 |
|
|
|
-2.5 % |
0.0 % |
36.1 % |
16.3 % |
2.4 % |
2 |
|
|
|
0.5 % |
0.9 % |
33.6 % |
19.7 % |
-2.4 % |
-1 |
|
|
|
0.7 % |
0.0 % |
35.6 % |
15.7 % |
0.2 % |
-2 |
|
|
|
3.3 % |
0.6 % |
6.4 % |
2.0 % |
-4.3 % |
-3 |
|
|
|
2.4 % |
0.6 % |
27.6 % |
16.3 % |
5.0 % |
-1 |
|
|
|
1.3 % |
0.4 % |
9.4 % |
4.9 % |
2.5 % |
-4 |
|
|
|
0.5 % |
0.4 % |
43.1 % |
17.1 % |
3.7 % |
-4 |
|
|
|
-4.5 % |
-0.3 % |
21.4 % |
11.8 % |
-0.2 % |
7 |
|
|
|
-1.1 % |
0.4 % |
45.6 % |
27.2 % |
7.3 % |
5 |
|
|
|
2.2 % |
0.4 % |
18.0 % |
11.8 % |
3.9 % |
-15 |
|
|
|
2.8 % |
0.6 % |
14.6 % |
6.7 % |
7.6 % |
-10 |
|
|
|
-2.2 % |
-0.2 % |
34.6 % |
10.8 % |
0.2 % |
15 |
|
|
|
-0.1 % |
0.3 % |
33.1 % |
15.5 % |
6.0 % |
6 |
|
|
|
-2.7 % |
-0.1 % |
14.5 % |
6.8 % |
-6.3 % |
5 |
|
|
|
0.3 % |
0.3 % |
20.0 % |
6.1 % |
-0.4 % |
3 |
|
|
|
0.1 % |
0.3 % |
35.7 % |
16.0 % |
7.7 % |
1 |
|
|
|
1.9 % |
0.8 % |
12.3 % |
9.1 % |
3.4 % |
-18 |
|
|
|
3.6 % |
0.6 % |
13.7 % |
7.2 % |
6.8 % |
-5 |
|
|
|
-4.6 % |
0.2 % |
11.4 % |
3.3 % |
-14.4 % |
24 |
|
|
|
3.3 % |
0.2 % |
44.5 % |
17.9 % |
-4.8 % |
-1 |
|
|
|
2.2 % |
0.6 % |
14.0 % |
2.2 % |
7.0 % |
-7 |
|
|
|
2.1 % |
0.6 % |
22.4 % |
5.9 % |
2.5 % |
0 |
|
|
|
2.3 % |
0.4 % |
15.2 % |
8.9 % |
8.9 % |
-3 |
|
|
|
5.3 % |
0.7 % |
13.7 % |
14.2 % |
4.7 % |
-29 |
|
|
|
5.5 % |
1.3 % |
42.0 % |
25.2 % |
-2.1 % |
-3 |
|
|
|
0.5 % |
0.4 % |
26.3 % |
9.7 % |
-1.5 % |
2 |
|
Virginia Beach, |
|
2.7 % |
0.3 % |
19.5 % |
7.3 % |
5.0 % |
-19 |
|
Providence, |
|
5.2 % |
0.3 % |
21.5 % |
18.9 % |
4.1 % |
-15 |
|
|
|
-2.3 % |
-0.1 % |
26.7 % |
6.5 % |
-2.3 % |
16 |
|
|
|
3.6 % |
0.9 % |
3.9 % |
-6.4 % |
-11.1 % |
-8 |
|
|
|
1.4 % |
0.3 % |
10.3 % |
-1.0 % |
-4.9 % |
-3 |
|
|
|
-1.0 % |
0.2 % |
40.0 % |
21.4 % |
1.6 % |
2 |
|
|
|
-0.2 % |
0.2 % |
2.6 % |
-3.2 % |
41.5 % |
-8 |
|
|
|
2.4 % |
0.4 % |
15.3 % |
9.5 % |
3.8 % |
-5 |
|
|
|
4.5 % |
0.6 % |
15.4 % |
9.9 % |
-16.1 % |
-7 |
|
New |
|
-1.9 % |
0.3 % |
10.4 % |
5.2 % |
-8.2 % |
17 |
|
|
|
2.0 % |
0.6 % |
28.9 % |
19.6 % |
3.6 % |
6 |
|
|
|
4.7 % |
0.7 % |
5.3 % |
3.6 % |
-5.8 % |
-16 |
|
|
|
3.9 % |
0.2 % |
-5.4 % |
-4.3 % |
-13.3 % |
-7 |
|
|
|
-0.3 % |
0.0 % |
12.8 % |
4.1 % |
0.5 % |
4 |
|
*Table ordered by market size |
|
1 The Zillow market report is a monthly overview of the national and local real estate markets. The |
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View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/home-values-flatten-as-sellers-outnumber-buyers-302431114.html
SOURCE Zillow
