Home sales and new listings are up, giving buyers more options.
Inventory gains thanks to a surge in new listings in February and an uptick in home sales for the month means good news for the US real estate market, according to a recent monthly report based on MLS data gleaned from 50 metropolitan areas.
Moreover, the RE/MAX National Housing Report notes a 21.6% increase in home sales in March over February. Inventory expansion increased the number of homes for sale by 24.2% year over year, which bodes well for the typically brisk homebuying months of May and June.
A higher inventory gives buyers more options for finding the house of their dreams at their desired price point. Amy Lessinger, RE/MAX® President, says, “It’s still a seller’s market in many parts of the country, but having a greater volume of available listings is a good step toward a more balanced market.”
In Miami, demand was predictably strong in March, and prices increased. While deals took a little longer to close, new builds increased inventory to accommodate new residents.
The median sale price increased 1.5% from February to $415,000, last achieved in September 2023.
Meanwhile, Redfin reports that by March 2024 that price had increased to $420,321, up 4.8% compared to last year. That month, there were 1,521,330 homes for sale in the country, an increase of 4.5% yearly. New listings totalled 549,105, slightly down year on year at 0.062%. Redfin notes that the median days on the market were 40 days, four down year on year, with 407,710 homes sold in March.
Redfin further lists the top 10 metros with the fastest-growing sales prices as Miami Beach, FL, at 39.8%, Honolulu, HI, at 22.4%, Fort Wayne, IN, at 22.2%, West Palm Beach, FL, at 21.3%, Tallahassee, FL, at 18.7%, Alexandria, VA, and Charleston, SC, at 18.1%, Milwaukee, WI, at 17.4%, Boca Raton, FL, at 16.1%, and Naples, FL, at 15.3%.
Other metrics of note from the RE/MAX National Housing Report show that March’s 21.6% increase in sales was the best monthly gain in a year despite finishing 9.4% below year-on-year across all 50 metros. These sellers received 99% of the listing price, which is the same as achieved the previous month and a year ago.
The report states that the markets with the most significant year-on-year decrease in median sales price were San Antonio, TX, at -4.4 %; Burlington, VT, at -4.3 %; and Fayetteville, AR, at -2.9%. The opposite was true in Manchester, NH, at +14.5%, New York, NY, at +14.0%, and Hartford, CT, at +13.5%.
Homes in Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC, are selling fastest at 13 days, followed by Dover, DE, Philadelphia, PA, and Trenton, NJ at 18 days. Conversely, homes in Fayetteville, AR (79 days), San Antonio, TX (76 days), and Bozeman, MT (66 days) are the most prolonged listings in the market. In March 2024, buyers were hard-pressed to find their dream home in Seattle, WA, Manchester, NH and Milwaukee, WI, due to low inventory. However, they could have succeeded more in metros with more inventory, such as Miami, FL, San Antonio, TX, and Bozeman, MT.
According to Redfin, the national average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate is 6.8%, up 0.3 points from the previous year.
Home searches are increasing, with Phoenix, Sacramento, Sarasota, Las Vegas, and Cape Coral being the most sought-after destinations to move to between February 2024 and April 2024. Where did those searches originate, meaning which areas do buyers want to leave? New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington.
The most popular state searches to move to were Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, with homebuyers wanting to move away mainly from California, New York, Illinois, Washington, and Massachusetts.
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