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 addition, we continue to give readers more timely weekly updates, an effort that began in response to the rapid changes in the economy and housing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Generally, you can look forward to a Weekly Housing Trends View and the latest weekly housing data on Thursdays with a weekly video update from our economists on Fridays. Here’s what the housing market looked like over the last week.
What this Week’s Data Means:
The housing market’s rapid growth in inventory from flat at the beginning of May to up 30% in late July had stalled in August as buyers and, perhaps more importantly sellers, adapted to shifting housing market conditions. But this week’s data snapped a 4 week streak of slowing momentum, with active listings growth ticking back up to 27%. This week’s data may be due to variability around the Labor Day holiday, or could signal a renewed recognition of the relative advantages today’s sellers have, such as record high home equity, even if their market power is not quite as strong as it was over the last year. New listing trends will be a key indicator to watch.
For today’s home shoppers, there are more homes available for sale, and there may be more time to make an offer on one, but buying a home remains a pricey undertaking as mortgage rates continue to trend higher.
Key Findings:
- The median listing price grew by 13.4% over last year. The typical asking price of for-sale homes was up from last year by double-digits for a 38th week, with the pace of growth slightly ahead of last week. Home prices typically decline as we move into the second half of the year, a seasonal trend that was somewhat disrupted in the overheated pandemic market. This year’s data signals a more expected pattern. Our August monthly housing trends report found that the median home listing was priced at $435,000, a decline from June’s all-time high of $450,000.
- New listings–a measure of sellers putting homes up for sale–were again down but just 6% from one year ago. This week marks the ninth straight week of year over year declines in the number of new listings coming up for sale, but by a smaller margin after three consecutive weeks of double digit declines. Homeowners continue to be in a good position, but will need to pay attention to local market trends. As buyers navigate high costs resulting from price gains and mortgage rate increases, sellers will find that they are more price sensitive and more willing to ask for contract concessions than last year’s shoppers.
- Active inventory continued to grow, and improved 27% above one year ago. The rate of improvement picked back up as the dip in homeowners decided to sell shrank, snapping a 4 week streak of slower momentum. Today’s shoppers generally have more homes to consider than last year’s shoppers did, but the market is still not back to pre-pandemic inventory levels. In fact, our August Housing Trends Report showed that the active listings count still trails its 2020 and 2019 levels by more than 7% and 43%, respectively.
- Homes spent five extra days on the market compared to this time last year. For a sixth straight week, homes are sitting on the market for a longer time than last year, but relative to pre-pandemic, shoppers need to make faster decisions. Our August monthly housing trends report found that homes still spent 22 fewer days on the market compared to the typical August 2017-2019.
Data Summary:
| All Changes year-over-year | Year-to-Date 2022 | Week ending Aug 20, 2022 | Week ending Aug 27, 2022 | Week ending Sep 3, 2022 |
| Median Listing Prices | +14.6% | +14.4% | +13.2% | +13.4% |
| New Listings | -2% | -12% | -12% | -6% |
| Active Listings | +1% | +26% | +26% | +27% |
| Time on Market | 6 days faster | 4 days slower | 5 days slower | 5 days slower |
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