More than half of homes (51%) have sold above their listing price in the four week period ending May 23, 2021 — up from 26% one year ago, according to a recent study by Redfin.
The Redfin study looked at homes sold in 400 U.S. metros.
Numerous other sales records were also set, including the median home sale price ($354,250) and number of days on the market (17, down from 36 one year ago). Asking prices also reached an average of $361,875, another record high.
Diving deeper, for the two week period ending May 9, 2021, 57% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market.
“We are seeing a typical late-spring slowdown in new listings and pending sales, but prices don’t typically peak until late August, and their growth remains completely unhinged,” said Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist. “The fact that homes keep selling for more and more above asking prices goes to show that many more people want a home than there are homes for sale. I don’t see that changing until mortgage rates increase, which will likely happen later this year. But until then, the housing market will remain red-hot.”
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For the week ending May 21, purchase applications increased 2% over the prior week. For the week ending May 27, 30-year mortgage rates fell slightly to 2.95%
Redfin also studied housing numbers from the same period in 2019, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. The study found that active listings — the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period — are down 49% from the same period in 2019.
These numbers illustrate the severe lack of inventory, which has driven existing home prices up all over the country. But that’s not slowing down buyers.
Regionally, the only metro area out of the 400 Redfin studied that saw home sales decline year over year was Rochester, New York (-3%). The largest gains in sales were in places that had the most abrupt slowdown of home sales in the spring of 2020, including San Francisco (up 184%), San Jose (up 150%), and Miami (up 120%).
Median home prices also increased from a year earlier in all metro areas Redfin tracks. The smallest increase was in Honolulu, Hawaii, where prices went up 0.2% from a year ago. The largest home price increases were in Austin (up 42%), Oxnard, California (up 26%) and Miami (up 26%).
