Our research team releases regular monthly housing trends reports. These reports break down inventory metrics like the number of active listings and the pace of the market. In light of the developing COVID-19 situation affecting the industry, we want to give readers more timely weekly updates.
Generally, you can look forward to a Weekly Housing Trends View near the end of each week along with weekly coverage of our Housing Market Recovery Index and a weekly video update from our economists. Here’s what the housing market looked like over the last few weeks.
Home sales and prices continue to surge ahead in the new year. Buyers entering the housing market in 2021 will need to be prepared and decisive in order to be successful in an environment where homes are selling fast and prices are rising. Fortunately, still low mortgage rates continue to help offset the sting of higher home prices, for now, making finding the right property amid scarce options and making an offer quickly, the top challenges.
Weekly Housing Trends Key Findings
Key Findings:
- Median listing prices grew at 14.4 percent over last year, notching 24 consecutive weeks of double-digit price growth. With demand still high and supply still limited, this trajectory seems unlikely to change in the near term. In 2020, lower mortgage rates have blunted the otherwise dampening effect that higher prices could have on buyer demand. But as mortgage rates transition from falling to gradually rising, the math changes. If mortgage rates trend upward, as we expect, affordability is likely to become a bigger challenge in 2021.
- New listings continue to fall behind the year ago pace–registering 21 percent lower this week. After the upswing in new listings at the end of 2020, momentum continues to be lacking in 2021. While the new listings trend is noisier than active inventory, the persistent declines observed in the new year signal that selling may not have been high on many home owners’ new year’s resolution lists. An uncertain environment doesn’t generally inspire consumers to make big decisions, and on top of the unknowns surrounding COVID-19 and its trajectory, government policies to support the economy and battle the health crisis continue to unfold as the new Congress and administration set to work. Looking forward, the surge in new cases is abating, and we’ve seen declines in new listings shrink over the last 4 weeks. We expect new housing supply to continue to improve, if unevenly, as we move through the year, and while new listings are struggling to grow, new construction will provide some relief.
- Total active inventory continues to decline, dropping 43 percent. A greater decline in overall inventory than in new listings is consistent with rising home sales and fast-selling homes that do not remain for sale for long.
- Time on market was 9 days faster than last year meaning that buyers have to make quick decisions to succeed. Although buyers have more information than ever available in their home search journey, they’ll need to marshall that information into actionable insights so that they can act with haste when the home that’s right for them comes up for sale.
Data Summary
| First 2 Weeks March 2020 |
Week ending Jan 9 |
Week ending Jan 16 |
Week ending Jan 23 |
|
| Median Listing Prices | +4.5% YOY | +15.4% YOY | +15.0% YOY | +14.4% YOY |
| New Listings | +5% YOY | -26% YOY | -22% YOY | -21% YOY |
| Total Listings | -16% YOY | -41% YOY | -43% YOY | -43% YOY |
| Time on Market | 4 days faster YOY | 10 days faster YOY | 9 days faster YOY | 9 days faster YOY |
You can download weekly housing market data from our data page.
Subscribe to our mailing list to receive monthly updates and notifications on the latest data and research.