Asking prices of homes increased to an all-time high of 12 percent, according to a Redfin report. However, pending sales were up just 4 percent, the smallest year-over-year increase since June 2020.
Other housing market measures show a typical seasonal cooling, according to Redfin, with fewer than half of homes selling above list price and new listings of homes for sale down 20 percent from their 2021 peak.
“Homesellers continue to show their optimism with increasing asking prices. However, there are already signals from the Fed and markets that mortgage rates are starting to creep up,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said in a release. “The hit to affordability that comes with higher rates and higher home prices could let some steam out of the market It’s never a good idea to overprice your home, but I would be especially wary of overpricing as seasonal cooling trends persist and rising rates take some affordability out of the homebuying equation.”
According to the report, the median home-sale price in September increased 13 percent year-over-year to $356,358. Asking prices of newly listed homes were up 12 percent year-over-year to a median of $361,250, an all-time high.
New listings of homes for sale were down 8 percent year-over year, and active listings dropped 22 percent.
A little under half (46 percent) of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market, up from 43 percent a year earlier, and 33 percent had an accepted offer within one week of hitting the market, up from 31 percent a year ago.
Almost half (48 percent) of homes sold in September sold above list price, up from 34 percent a year earlier. On average, 5 percent of homes for sale each week had a price drop, the highest level since October 2019.