More Sellers are Listing Their Homes, But Buying Frenzy Speeds Ahead

This Zillow Weekly Market Report includes housing market data as of the week ending August 22

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Aug 28, 2020, 08:00 ET

SEATTLE, Aug. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Home seller confidence is growing and the number of new homes on the market is recovering closer to levels seen last year, according to Zillow's Weekly Market Reportⁱ. Still, buyer demand is outpacing this new supply as newly pending sales are up big in year-over-year numbers, driven partly by mortgage rates that fell even further this week.

Buyer demand is holding strong

Newly pending sales were up 16.5% from the same week last year as strong buyer demand is continuing into the late summer. That's the biggest year-over-year jump since mid-February, before the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
Home sellers that accepted an offer last week typically did so after 13 days, which is 13 days faster than a year ago.

More sellers are entering the market, but demand is still outpacing supply

New for-sale listings were down 10.6% year over year last week. That's the narrowest gap since late March, a possible sign that sellers are belatedly entering the market as home shopping season extends later in the year than usual.
Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey shows confidence is growing that now is a good time to sell a home. In July, 45% of respondents shared that belief, up from 41% in June and a recent low of 29% in April.
Still, due to the pace of pending sales, total for-sale inventory fell further below last year's level. As of last week, there were 28.9% fewer homes on the market than a year ago.

Last week marked biggest year-over-year list price growth since summer 2019

The median U.S. list price is $345,255, 8.3% higher than a year ago. That's the biggest annual change since the week ending July 13, 2019.
The share of listings with a price cut is holding steady at 4.2%, which is down from 5.7% at this time last year.
In the week ending July 11, the median sale price of U.S. homes was $277,500, a 5.1% year-over-year increase.

Mortgage rates dip lower after FHFA fee delay

Mortgage rates listed by third-party lenders on Zillowⁱⁱ fell sharply midweek after the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced a delay in its new 0.5% fee on some refinances. The Adverse Market Refinance Fee, which applies to all mortgage refinances serviced by government entities, will be delayed to December 1, rather than September 1.
Additionally, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell formally announced a policy shift that will allow for higher inflation in some cases, which is expected to keep interest rates low for a sustained period. The immediate impact on mortgage rates will likely be negligible, and longer-term it's possible this actually moves mortgage rates higher depending on other factors, such as the pace of the economic recovery.

Metropolitan Area*	Newly Pending Sales - YoY	Newly Pending Sales - WoW	Median Days to Pending	New For- Sale Listings - YoY	New For- Sale Listings - WoW	Total For- Sale Listings - YoY	Median Sale Price**	Median Sale Price - YoY**
United States	16.5%	-0.7%	13	-10.6%	0.9%	-28.9%	$277,500	5.1%
New York/Newark, NY/NJ	41.5%	-2.4%	29	9.4%	-0.2%	-16.2%	$447,500	2.7%
Los Angeles, CA	3.8%	-1.1%	13	1.4%	-1.0%	-26.4%	$699,000	4.6%
Chicago, IL	40.1%	-1.7%	13	0.7%	-0.3%	-26.9%	$258,374	3.3%
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX	21.7%	-3.1%	23	-20.9%	-0.9%	-27.7%	$297,250	6.3%
Philadelphia, PA	25.1%	-2.7%	9	-3.5%	-4.7%	-38.6%	$270,625	1.5%
Houston, TX	22.8%	-0.9%	16	-23.9%	-5.4%	-24.4%	$265,625	6.7%
Washington, DC	27.1%	-1.5%	6	-0.5%	2.7%	-34.2%	$434,912	0.9%
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL	13.9%	-1.2%	28	-0.9%	3.8%	-12.1%	$326,375	11.5%
Atlanta, GA	13.9%	1.5%	15	-18.4%	8.6%	-22.7%	$274,536	5.6%
Boston, MA	17.3%	-3.3%	7	-12.1%	-3.7%	-23.2%	$514,516	6.8%
San Francisco, CA	39.0%	-1.6%	12	15.3%	4.4%	-0.3%	$871,750	6.5%
Detroit, MI	33.0%	0.3%	8	-1.1%	3.6%	-35.2%	$212,975	6.7%
Riverside, CA	5.5%	-1.1%	10	-3.5%	-0.4%	-46.8%	$400,125	6.3%
Phoenix, AZ	6.7%	0.6%	10	-6.5%	-1.0%	-26.2%	$315,625	9.4%
Seattle, WA	14.2%	0.8%	6	6.5%	-1.9%	-31.5%	$541,067	8.8%
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN	19.4%	0.2%	16	-0.4%	5.5%	-25.9%	$302,200	7.3%
San Diego, CA	N/A	N/A	8	6.8%	-2.8%	-37.7%	$617,750	2.5%
St. Louis, MO	21.7%	-0.9%	7	-9.3%	4.9%	-31.4%	$211,875	7.5%
Tampa, FL	N/A	N/A	8	-5.8%	5.3%	-31.5%	$253,350	8.1%
Baltimore, MD	11.5%	-1.8%	9	-10.2%	-5.9%	-44.3%	$311,875	1.2%
Denver, CO	19.2%	0.2%	6	-7.5%	-0.5%	-29.5%	$449,712	4.8%
Pittsburgh, PA	23.8%	0.0%	8	-0.3%	0.7%	-25.7%	$194,846	3.2%
Portland, OR	21.3%	1.0%	6	-5.3%	-2.4%	-31.1%	$425,375	5.2%
Charlotte, NC	-7.9%	1.6%	6	-15.9%	4.4%	-40.2%	$283,750	5.0%
Sacramento, CA	17.1%	1.0%	7	-14.1%	2.0%	-40.9%	$457,250	7.6%
San Antonio, TX	48.9%	-1.3%	25	-21.2%	-6.4%	-23.3%	$250,987	6.5%
Orlando, FL	N/A	N/A	11	-2.0%	6.5%	-15.1%	$273,298	3.9%
Cincinnati, OH	6.1%	0.1%	4	-15.7%	-8.3%	-37.6%	$210,074	9.2%
Cleveland, OH	29.5%	0.7%	15	0.1%	11.5%	-37.9%	$174,250	5.9%
Kansas City, MO	10.8%	0.2%	4	-9.7%	-1.3%	-41.3%	$251,875	6.0%
Las Vegas, NV	8.9%	3.4%	14	-4.8%	-3.1%	-24.4%	$312,000	3.7%
Columbus, OH	3.7%	-0.9%	4	-14.7%	10.3%	-38.0%	$228,238	1.6%
Indianapolis, IN	0.8%	-2.1%	5	4.8%	5.0%	-40.0%	$219,095	9.5%
San Jose, CA	-14.2%	2.9%	15	23.6%	0.9%	-20.4%	$1,125,250	0.9%
Austin, TX	29.9%	-0.2%	7	-15.8%	-0.1%	-30.0%	$349,547	5.3%
Virginia Beach, VA	N/A	N/A	25	7.1%	-4.1%	-37.7%	$272,473	4.2%
Nashville, TN	N/A	N/A	36	-14.8%	6.9%	-13.8%	$314,341	4.5%
Providence, RI	0.6%	-2.6%	10	-8.5%	11.3%	-35.0%	$314,600	5.5%
Milwaukee, WI	N/A	N/A	28	-2.7%	2.3%	-10.1%	$245,000	2.7%
Jacksonville, FL	20.4%	-1.9%	13	-13.9%	-10.2%	-31.4%	$265,749	2.3%
Memphis, TN	7.4%	-1.9%	6	-11.1%	6.7%	-39.5%	$208,062	0.5%
Oklahoma City, OK	26.1%	0.4%	10	-22.6%	-9.5%	-32.8%	$201,945	4.0%
Louisville, KY	-5.2%	-3.8%	6	-8.0%	6.1%	-41.5%	$214,128	4.8%
Hartford, CT	22.7%	-1.0%	8	18.3%	26.1%	-43.1%	$250,500	1.9%
Richmond, VA	N/A	N/A	5	-10.9%	0.2%	-36.1%	$274,219	-0.9%
New Orleans, LA	7.1%	-2.4%	13	-16.4%	-3.7%	-40.2%	$227,675	4.6%
Buffalo, NY	19.3%	-1.2%	10	-15.3%	0.0%	-32.5%	$177,375	-0.8%
Raleigh, NC	14.7%	1.2%	5	-24.8%	-10.6%	-34.6%	$306,750	4.0%
Birmingham, AL	33.3%	-0.7%	8	-9.2%	-2.6%	-33.4%	$225,638	7.9%
Salt Lake City, UT	N/A	N/A	6	-37.9%	3.7%	-40.8%	$372,312	7.4%

*Table ordered by market size

**Sale price data as of the week ending July 11

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i 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/.

ⁱⁱ Zillow Group Marketplace, Inc. is a licensed mortgage broker, NMLS #1303160.

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