Home prices notched a second week at a single-digit pace after 50 consecutive weeks of growth in the double-digit range. While this marks a key buyer-friendly milestone, home prices remain high and price growth is faster than we typically see. Furthermore, data suggest that some of the apparent price moderation is due to a shift in what’s selling now. In July we saw an increase in smaller homes on the market and the typical asking price of 2,000 square foot single-family homes, a nice benchmark, continues to advance at a double-digit rate. The good news for homebuyers is that they may see more choices, particularly smaller homes for sale. For sellers, although price growth has slowed, prices are still generally high. This means conditions are still good for selling, and this is likely to mean that we will continue to see more homeowners list homes for sale.

Weekly Housing Trends Key Findings

Key Findings:

• The median listing price grew at 8.6 percent over last year, notching the second week of single-digit price growth after a 50-week streak of double-digit price growth. The good news for buyers is that the pace of price growth is now half April’s 17.2% year-over-year pace. The good news for homeowners and potential sellers is that despite slowing, home prices continue to grow.  The median home listing price held its record-high in July at $385,000. We expect prices to ease as we head into fall, as they have historically, which means we may not see new all-time highs but are likely to see the highest prices ever for the fall and winter season.
   
• New listings–a measure of sellers putting homes up for sale–were up 3 percent.  More homeowners continue to list homes for sale compared to a year ago. We’ve seen this trend in 17 of the last 20 weeks. Notably, while new listings continue to lag behind a more ‘normal’ 2019 pace, the gap is shrinking. Even though homes continue to sell quickly thanks to high demand and limited supply, new listings are subtly shifting the balance of market conditions in favor of buyers. They’re helping to mitigate the declines in overall active listings, keeping prices from advancing at a faster pace, and ultimately leading to more home sales.
   
• Total active inventory continues to shrink, but it’s down just 28 percent from this time last year. While there are still fewer homes for sale than last year, the gap continues to shrink, getting smaller for the last 18 weeks in a row. At this pace, we are likely to see inventories begin to grow before the end of the year. 
   
• Time on the market was down 17 days from last year. Homes that are in good condition and well-priced continue to sell fast. The typical active listing was on the market 38 days in July, just a day longer than June’s record-fast pace. We expect the market to hold its momentum over last year. However, unlike in 2020 when homes sold unseasonably fast in the fall, our prediction is for a much more normal seasonal trend this year. That means we’re likely to see some slowing ahead as vacations end and school resumes.

Realtor.com