Home Prices Hit Another Record High, Pushing Pending Sales Down 4%, Says Report

The median U.S. home-sale price hit a record $387,600 during the four weeks ending May 19, up 4% from a year earlier. That’s according to a new report from Redfin, the technology-powered real estate brokerage. Weekly average mortgage rates dipped to 7.02% from a five-month high of 7.22% at the start of the month, bringing the median monthly housing payment to $2,854, roughly $20 shy of April’s all-time high.

High housing costs pushed pending home sales down 4.2% year over year, the biggest decline in three months (except the prior 4-week period, when sales declined 4.4%). Prices keep rising despite declining sales because there aren’t enough homes on the market: New listings are up about 8% year over year, but inventory remains lower than typical spring levels. Many homeowners are staying put because they would rather hold onto their relatively low mortgage rate than move up to a bigger and/or better home.

“Move-up buyers feel stuck because they’re ready for their next house, but it just doesn’t make financial sense to sell with current interest rates so high,” said Sam Brinton, a Redfin Premier agent in Salt Lake City, UT. “The homeowners listing right now are often doing so because they need to: One of my clients is selling because of a family emergency, and another couple is selling because they had a baby and simply don’t have enough room. Buyers should take note that many of today’s sellers are motivated; if a home doesn’t have other offers on the table, offer under asking price and/or ask for concessions because many sellers are willing to negotiate.”

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	7.09% (May 22)	Up from 6.99% a week earlier, but down from a 5-month high of 7.52% 4 weeks earlier	Up from 6.95%	Mortgage News Daily
Weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate	7.02% (week ending May 16)	Down from 5-month high of 7.22% 2 weeks earlier	Up from 6.39%	Freddie Mac
Mortgage-purchase applications (seasonally adjusted)		Declined 1% from a week earlier (as of week ending May 17)	Down 11%	Mortgage Bankers Association
Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index (seasonally adjusted)		Essentially unchanged from a month earlier (as of week ending May 19)	Down 11%	Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index, a measure of requests for tours and other homebuying services from Redfin agents
Touring activity		Up 31% from the start of the year (as of May 19)	At this time last year, it was up 22% from the start of 2023	ShowingTime, a home touring technology company
Google searches for “home for sale”		Down 8% from a month earlier (as of May 19)	Down 18%	Google Trends

Key housing-market data

U.S. highlights: Four weeks ending May 19, 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 May 19, 2024	Year-over-year change	Notes
Median sale price	$387,600	4%	All-time high
Median asking price	$420,250	6.6%	All-time high
Median monthly mortgage payment	$2,854 at a 7.02% mortgage rate	10.5%	$18 below all-time high set during the 4 weeks ending April 28
Pending sales	89,303	-4.2%	Biggest decline since 4 weeks ending Feb. 25 (except the prior 4-week period, when sales declined 4.4%)
New listings	102,671	8.5%
Active listings	901,194	14.8%
Months of supply	3.2	+0.6 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	44.9%	Down from 49%
Median days on market	33	+3 days
Share of homes sold above list price	31.3%	Down from 34%
Share of homes with a price drop	6.4%	+2 pts.	Highest level since Nov. 2022
Average sale-to-list price ratio	99.5%	-0.1 pts.

Metro-level highlights: Four weeks ending May 19, 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 (20.1%) Detroit (16.9%) San Jose, CA (12.9%) Oakland, CA (12.5%) West Palm Beach, FL (12%)	San Antonio (-1%) Fort Worth, TX (-0.6%)	Decreased in 2 metros
Pending sales	San Jose, CA (18.4%) San Francisco (8%) San Diego (4.3%) Newark, NJ (3.6%) Columbus, OH (3.3%)	West Palm Beach, FL (-15.3%) Atlanta (-14.9%) Houston (-14.5%) Phoenix (-12.3%) Providence, RI (-11.6%)	Increased in 10 metros
New listings	San Jose, CA (36.7%) Montgomery County, PA (26.2%) Phoenix (26.1%) Seattle (21.2%) San Diego (21%)	Atlanta (-8.1%) Chicago (-4.9%) Detroit (-3.9%) Virginia Beach, VA (-2.6%) Newark, NJ (-2%) Warren, MI (-1.8%)	Decreased in 6 metros