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As 2024 drew to a close, Redfin revealed that active listings, or homes for sale, hit their highest level since 2020 in November, driven by a surge of unsold homes lingering on the market.
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This slowdown persisted into December, which saw the slowest pace of home sales in five years, according to Realtor.com’s Senior Economist Ralph McLaughlin.
“Homes spent 70 days on the market, the slowest December in five years and the slowest month since January 2023,” McLaughlin said in his December housing report.
In November, active listings rose 0.5 percent month over month and 12.1 percent year over year, according to Redfin’s analysis. However, inventory fell sharply in December, down 8.6 percent from November — the sharpest monthly decline since January 2023 — as many unsold homes were pulled from the market, Realtor.com reported.
In November, 54.5 percent of listings nationwide remained on the market for at least 60 days without going under contract — the highest share for any November since 2019.
Redfin
Elevated mortgage rates, reported at 6.85 percent as of Dec. 26 by Freddie Mac, are discouraging buyers, despite a year-over-year decline in median listing price to $402,502.
“High mortgage rates continue to bring a slow market,” McLaughlin emphasized.
The inventory buildup can also be attributed, in part, to homes priced too high or those in poor condition.
Meme Loggins, a Redfin Premier real estate agent in Portland, Oregon, noted that while homes priced at $650,000 or lower attract the most buyer competition, many homes still sit unsold because sellers in this range often overprice.
Loggins added, “A lot of listings on the market are either stale or uninhabitable. There’s a lot of inventory, but it doesn’t feel like enough,” Loggins said. “I explain to sellers that their house will sit on the market if it’s not fairly priced. Homes that are priced well and in good condition are flying off the market in three to five days, but homes that are overpriced can sit for over three months.”
Florida metros such as Miami (63.8 percent), Fort Lauderdale (62.3 percent) and Tampa (56.9 percent) had the highest shares of stale listings largely due to high HOA fees, soaring insurance costs and natural disasters deterring buyers.
Conversely, cities like Providence, Rhode Island (38.2 percent) and Milwaukee (38.8 percent) reported the lowest shares of stale inventory in November.
