Buying a Home Hits New Record as Mortgage Rates Jump, Prices Rise 5%

The median U.S. home-sale price increased 5% from a year earlier during the four weeks ending April 14, bringing it to $380,250—just $3,095 shy of June 2022’s all-time high. That’s according to a new report from Redfin, the technology-powered real estate brokerage.

The average daily mortgage rate this week surpassed 7.4%, the highest level since last November, after a hotter-than-expected inflation report and the Fed’s confirmation that interest-rate cuts will be delayed. The combination of high mortgage rates and prices have brought homebuyers’ median monthly housing payment to a record $2,775, up 11% year over year.

There are signals that buyers are out there touring homes despite rising rates. Mortgage-purchase applications are up 5% week over week, and Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index—a measure of requests for tours and other buying services from Redfin agents—is near its highest level in seven months. Chen Zhao, Redfin’s economic research lead, said some house hunters are hoping to buy now because they’re concerned rates could rise more, and others have grown accustomed to elevated rates and pushed down their home-price budget accordingly.

“Home sales are slower than usual, but there are still people buying and selling because if not now, when?” said Connie Durnal, a Redfin Premier agent in Dallas. “I’ve had a few prospective buyers touring homes for the last several years, since mortgage rates started going up, and they wish they would have bought last year because prices and rates are even higher now. My advice to them: If you can afford to and you find a house you love, buy now. There’s no guarantee that rates will come down soon.”

Leading indicators

Indicators of homebuying demand and activity
	Value (if applicable)	Recent change	Year-over-year change	Source
Daily average 30-year fixed mortgage rate	7.41% (April 17)	Up from 7% one month earlier; highest level since November 2023	Up from 6.61%	Mortgage News Daily
Weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate	6.88% (week ending April 11)	Up just slightly from 6.82% a week earlier	Up from 6.27%	Freddie Mac
Mortgage-purchase applications (seasonally adjusted)		Increased 5% from a week earlier (as of week ending April 12)	Down 10%	Mortgage Bankers Association
Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index (seasonally adjusted)		Up 8% from a month earlier (as of week ending April 14)	Down 11%	Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index, a measure of requests for tours and other homebuying services from Redfin agents
Touring activity		Up 33% from the start of the year (as of April 14)	At this time last year, it was up 23% from the start of 2023	ShowingTime, a home touring technology company
Google searches for “home for sale”		Unchanged from a month earlier (as of April 14)	Down 17%	Google Trends

Key housing-market data

U.S. highlights: Four weeks ending April 14, 2024 Redfin’s national metrics include data from 400+ U.S. metro areas, and is based on homes listed and/or sold during the period. Weekly housing-market data goes back through 2015. Subject to revision.
	Four weeks ending April 14, 2024	Year-over-year change	Notes
Median sale price	$380,250	4.7%
Median asking price	$413,225	6.4%	Biggest increase since Oct. 2022; all-time high
Median monthly mortgage payment	$2,775 at a 6.88% mortgage rate	10.6%	All-time high
Pending sales	86,086	-2.3%
New listings	93,332	10.8%
Active listings	832,748	9.6%
Months of supply	3.3 months	+0.4 pts.	4 to 5 months of supply is considered balanced, with a lower number indicating seller’s market conditions.
Share of homes off market in two weeks	42.6%	Down from 44%
Median days on market	35	-1 day
Share of homes sold above list price	29.2%	Essentially unchanged
Share of homes with a price drop	5.9%	+1.6 pts.
Average sale-to-list price ratio	99.2%	+0.2 pts.

Metro-level highlights: Four weeks ending April 14, 2024 Redfin’s metro-level data includes the 50 most populous U.S. metros. Select metros may be excluded from time to time to ensure data accuracy.
	Metros with biggest year-over-year increases	Metros with biggest year-over-year decreases	Notes
Median sale price	Anaheim, CA (24.8%) Providence, RI (14.6%) Nassau County, NY (14.3%) West Palm Beach, FL (13.5%) New Brunswick, NJ (13.1%)	San Antonio, TX (-1%)	Declined in just 1 metro
Pending sales	San Jose, CA (25.6%) San Francisco (11.2%) Oakland, CA (7.1%) Columbus, OH (6.7%) Seattle (6.4%)	Nassau County, NY (-14.9%) Atlanta (-13.6%) Houston (-11.6%) Riverside, CA (-10.8%) Fort Lauderdale, FL (-10%)	Increased in 14 metros
New listings	San Jose, CA (46.6%) Sacramento, CA (27.6%) Phoenix (27.4%) Jacksonville, FL (27.2%) Dallas (22.9%)	Newark, NJ (-12.4%) Providence, RI (-6.3%) Milwaukee (-4.6%) Chicago (-4.5%) Detroit (-3.1%)	Declined in 9 metros