Redfin Housing Demand Index Remained Nearly Flat In December As Supply Continued To Fall

SEATTLE, Jan. 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- (NASDAQ: RDFN) -- The Redfin Housing Demand Index remained nearly flat into the end of 2017, falling 0.6 percent from 128.3 in November to 127.6 in December, according to Redfin (www.redfin.com), the next-generation real estate brokerage. The seasonally adjusted number of buyers requesting home tours fell by 3.4 percent, while the number making offers fell 1.8 percent from November.

The Demand Index is based on thousands of Redfin customers requesting home tours and writing offers. A level of 100 represents the historical average for the three-year period from January 2013 to December 2015.

"Buyer demand is still strong, but wilted a bit in the face of low inventory," said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson. "The housing market ended 2017 with 170,000 fewer listings than it had a year earlier, which means there were fewer homes for buyers to tour and make offers on. For the fourth consecutive year, inventory will be the major factor shaping the housing market in 2018."

Though the Demand Index remained flat month over month, the year-over-year numbers reveal how homebuyer activity has strengthened to a limited extent due to the supply shortage. Compared with December 2016, the Demand Index was up 8.4 percent and the number of buyers requesting tours was up 16.7 percent. Meanwhile, the number of buyers making offers slid 5.9 percent.

The drop in offer activity can be explained by the fact that inventory fell 20 percent year-over-year in December. Not only was this the largest inventory decline recorded since 2014, when we first began tracking the metric for the 15 markets included in the Demand Index, but December marked the 31st consecutive month of falling supply. What's more, the number of homes newly listed in December fell 5.6 percent from a year earlier. Taken together, these numbers tell us that there were plenty of people in the market to buy a home last month, but there simply weren't enough homes for everyone to offer on and purchase.

To read the full report, including metro-level demand charts, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/blog/2018/01/redfin-housing-demand-index-remained-nearly-flat-in-december-as-supply-continued-to-fall.html

About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is the next-generation real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the consumer's favor. Founded by software engineers, Redfin has the country's #1 brokerage website and offers a host of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate, the automated home-value estimate with the industry's lowest published error rate for listed homes. Homebuyers and sellers enjoy a full-service, technology-powered experience from Redfin real estate agents, while saving thousands in commissions. Redfin serves more than 80 major metro areas across the U.S. The company has closed more than $50 billion in home sales.

For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center. To be added to Redfin's press release distribution list, subscribe here. To view Redfin's press center, click here.

SOURCE Redfin

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