During the four-week period ending August 23, the housing market continued to see positive numbers for both sales and home prices. The number of new listings finally saw growth with a 4.1% increase year over year, according to Redfin. This increase is the largest the market has seen since March. Still, the number of active listings are down compared to last year. Pending homes sales increased much more than new listings with a 20% year over year difference—the largest jump in home sales since fall 2015. The chart topping numbers don’t stop there. In the highest level since 2012, 46.6% of homes sold within the first two weeks on the market.
“A lot of the homebuyers I’m working with also have a home they need to sell, but they feel stuck,” said Milwaukee-area Redfin agent Melissa Killham. “Low inventory and a competitive market is making potential sellers afraid to put their house up for sale. They are worried that they won’t be able to buy a home using an offer that’s contingent on the sale of their current home, or that if they sell first, their home will sell before they find something to buy and they’ll have nowhere to live in between.”
Largest annual increase in pending home sales since October 2015
Pending home sales for the four-week period were once again much higher than the same time in 2019, up 20% despite an ongoing seasonal decline over the past few weeks. This was the largest year-over-year increase in pending sales since the four weeks ending October 25, 2015.
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