The median asking price of newly listed homes for sale surged 12 percent year over year to a new record high of $361,250 during the four-week period ending September 26, according to tech-powered brokerage Redfin.
The median home sale price also spiked by 13 percent from the previous year to $356,358. That figure marked just a 0.2 percent gain from the four-week period ending September 19.
Meanwhile, pending sales were up 4 percent on an annual basis, the smallest year over year increase since June 2020.
“Home sellers continue to show their optimism with increasing asking prices,” Daryl Fairweather, Redfin chief economist, said in Redfin’s report. “However, there are already signals from the Fed and markets that mortgage rates are starting to creep up. The hit to affordability that comes with higher rates and higher home prices could let some steam out of the market.”
“It’s never a good idea to overprice your home, but I would be especially wary of overpricing as seasonal cooling trends persist and rising rates take some affordability out of the homebuying equation,” Fairweather added.
A number of market factors pointed to an approaching seasonal slowdown, including number of new listings, which were down 8 percent from the year before. Active listings were also down 22 percent from the same period in 2020.
Homes stayed on the market for a median of 20 days before going under contract, almost one week longer than an all-time low of 15 days in late June and July, and down from 32 days the year before.
An average of 5 percent of homes for sale each week experienced a price drop, up 1.4 percentage points from the previous year, and the highest level seen since the four-week period ending October 13, 2019.
Still, the market continued to show its strength, with 46 percent of homes going under contract within the first two weeks on the market, up from 43 percent in 2020. One-third of homes that went under contract, meanwhile, accepted an offer within just one week of being listed, up from 31 percent the year before.
Nearly half of homes sold above list price (48 percent), up from 34 percent during the same period in 2020. At the same time, the average home sold for 1.0 percent above asking.
Mortgage purchase applications also dropped 1 percent on a weekly basis during the week ending September 24.
