Intense Buyer Demand Continues to Drive Hot Housing Market

Zillow

Intense and persistent buyer demand is keeping the time on market for houses at incredible lows and pushing prices ever higher above 2019, according to Zillow’s Weekly Market Report1. Sales remain high above last year and are expected to stay robust in the coming months.

Time on market still short as pending sales stay high over 2019 

  • Robust buyer-side demand persisted through October. For the fourth consecutive week, houses are typically staying on the market for 12 days, a full 17 days faster than last year.
  • Pending sales are up 19.7% year over year, though they have slowed 3.1% since last month and 1.3% since last week.

Scalding homebuyer demand keeps inventory in a vise-grip

  • Available inventory fell for the 23rd straight week and is now down 37.4% compared to last year.  Demand for homes is still sky high, while current homeowners cite a lack of confidence in their ability to secure and afford a new home among reasons they’re not selling.
  • New listings dropped 7.4% year over year and 7.9% since last week.

Price growth over 2019 increases as hot market stretches further into fall

  • Median list prices have risen further above last year’s figures every week since early May and are now up 11.8% year over year. List prices fell $500 since last week to $345,500 — the first weekly drop since mid-April.
  • Homeowners who decide to sell are benefitting from insatiable demand. Median sale prices rose to $289,625 in the week ending September 19, up 12.5% over 2019.

Metropolitan
Area*

Total For-
Sale
Listings –
YOY

New For-
Sale
Listings –
YOY

Newly
Pending
Sales –
YOY

Newly
Pending
Sales –
WOW

Median
List Price
– YOY

Median
List Price
– WOW

Median
Sale Price

– YOY**

United States

-37.4%

-7.4%

19.7%

-1.3%

11.8%

-0.1%

12.5%

New York, NY

-19.3%

-0.8%

53.8%

-0.3%

15.4%

0.0%

6.9%

Los Angeles-
Long Beach-
Anaheim, CA

-21.4%

3.6%

-5.8%

-6.3%

12.5%

-0.1%

12.6%

Chicago, IL

-27.8%

3.2%

36.8%

-1.2%

8.3%

-0.7%

12.8%

Dallas-Fort
Worth, TX

-36.7%

-21.7%

26.8%

-1.2%

4.9%

-0.4%

11.8%

Philadelphia, PA

-38.2%

-5.4%

85.1%

-0.6%

12.0%

0.0%

10.9%

Houston, TX

-30.4%

1.2%

33.3%

1.6%

10.1%

0.0%

8.5%

Washington, DC

-33.8%

0.3%

96.4%

1.3%

7.5%

-0.9%

9.0%

Miami-Fort
Lauderdale, FL

-16.2%

0.0%

23.1%

0.7%

2.4%

0.1%

17.0%

Atlanta, GA

-34.2%

-14.7%

13.1%

2.1%

9.1%

-0.2%

11.3%

Boston, MA

-31.5%

-2.1%

-27.9%

-11.0%

12.0%

-0.4%

13.6%

San Francisco,
CA

-0.2%

50.1%

36.4%

4.9%

12.0%

-0.4%

15.4%

Detroit, MI

-41.2%

-12.6%

37.3%

-0.9%

11.8%

-0.2%

10.4%

Riverside, CA

-46.1%

-17.0%

22.6%

2.1%

16.3%

0.0%

12.8%

Phoenix, AZ

-21.2%

9.8%

28.4%

1.5%

10.2%

-0.1%

11.7%

Seattle, WA

-29.7%

5.3%

19.0%

-1.8%

4.1%

-0.4%

12.6%

Minneapolis-St
Paul, MN

-28.0%

-4.1%

32.3%

-1.7%

0.4%

-0.6%

11.3%

San Diego, CA

-34.6%

6.6%

9.8%

0.0%

12.3%

St. Louis, MO

-40.1%

-16.0%

26.5%

-1.0%

4.4%

-0.5%

15.3%

Tampa, FL

-35.5%

-8.6%

10.6%

0.0%

12.3%

Baltimore, MD

-46.5%

-13.4%

117.2%

2.7%

3.2%

-0.7%

6.5%

Denver, CO

-38.3%

12.7%

24.0%

-3.2%

6.3%

0.4%

7.8%

Pittsburgh, PA

-33.7%

-10.2%

17.6%

-0.6%

19.4%

-0.5%

10.0%

Portland, OR

-37.0%

9.2%

33.0%

0.2%

12.1%

0.7%

10.8%

Charlotte, NC

-47.0%

-4.9%

-2.0%

-1.2%

9.7%

-0.1%

10.8%

Sacramento, CA

-41.3%

2.5%

26.4%

3.3%

15.3%

0.4%

12.8%

San Antonio, TX

-29.6%

4.7%

46.3%

1.8%

5.7%

-0.4%

11.4%

Orlando, FL

-19.6%

-3.8%

1.5%

0.0%

6.3%

Cincinnati, OH

-36.5%

3.0%

23.6%

2.3%

13.0%

-1.5%

14.1%

Cleveland, OH

-41.0%

6.4%

49.1%

-1.6%

3.3%

-1.2%

12.8%

Kansas City, MO

-42.2%

-1.7%

24.6%

0.7%

11.7%

-0.6%

13.7%

Las Vegas, NV

-23.9%

-7.1%

17.7%

0.3%

8.9%

-0.2%

3.2%

Columbus, OH

-42.0%

-9.6%

16.3%

-1.0%

12.0%

0.4%

12.6%

Indianapolis, IN

-40.4%

9.5%

19.0%

-1.8%

6.7%

-1.0%

13.8%

San Jose, CA

-9.2%

73.6%

-18.2%

-2.6%

13.1%

-0.4%

16.4%

Austin, TX

-40.0%

6.0%

27.0%

0.4%

23.1%

0.2%

16.5%

Virginia Beach,
VA

-40.1%

15.1%

3.9%

-1.0%

8.0%

Nashville, TN

-30.9%

-18.1%

4.8%

-0.3%

7.0%

Providence, RI

-39.5%

-9.3%

-12.0%

3.2%

4.9%

-0.1%

8.8%

Milwaukee, WI

-5.6%

15.5%

5.3%

-0.4%

7.4%

Jacksonville, FL

-41.6%

-5.7%

26.7%

-6.6%

2.2%

-0.8%

5.3%

Memphis, TN

-45.2%

-17.3%

19.0%

1.1%

4.2%

0.9%

20.4%

Oklahoma City,
OK

-37.0%

-36.5%

27.2%

-3.5%

9.5%

0.0%

11.3%

Louisville-
Jefferson
County, KY

-44.0%

-11.6%

18.6%

-0.5%

-1.8%

-1.6%

13.4%

Hartford, CT

-40.7%

10.7%

49.8%

0.2%

11.6%

-0.4%

11.5%

Richmond, VA

-44.6%

4.0%

17.7%

0.7%

9.1%

New Orleans,
LA

-44.5%

-10.8%

24.2%

-3.0%

12.4%

0.1%

8.9%

Buffalo, NY

-41.8%

-11.7%

19.6%

-2.0%

7.5%

-1.3%

17.8%

Raleigh, NC

-44.7%

-15.2%

12.7%

0.7%

11.1%

0.1%

13.6%

Birmingham, AL

-33.3%

16.1%

44.0%

1.5%

-2.6%

0.0%

10.7%

Salt Lake City,
UT

-50.0%

-13.3%

10.6%

0.5%

10.7%

*Table ordered by market size
**Sale price data as of the week ending Sept. 19

1 The Zillow Weekly Market Reports are a weekly overview of the national and local real estate markets. The reports are compiled by Zillow Economic Research and data is aggregated from public sources and listing data on Zillow.com. New for-sale listings data reflect daily counts using a smoothed, seven-day trailing average. Total for-sale listings, newly pending sales, days to pending and median list price data reflect weekly counts using a smoothed, four-week trailing average. National newly pending sales trends are based upon aggregation of the 38 largest metro areas where historic pending listing data coverage is most statistically reliable, and excludes some metros due to upstream data coverage issues. For more information, visit www.zillow.com/research/.

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