The Redfin Housing Demand Index fell 6.2 percent from 136 in October to 127 in November. The Demand Index is based on thousands of Redfin customers requesting home tours and writing offers. The seasonally adjusted number of buyers requesting home tours fell slightly by 1.9 percent, while the number making offers fell 14.7 percent.
“Three years of low inventory is taking its toll on buyer demand in terms of tour and offer activity,” said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson. “People still want to buy homes, especially before mortgage interest rates increase and prices rise even more. But there just aren’t enough homes for sale, especially at lower- to mid-level prices.”
While demand softened month over month, the story is different looking at year-over-year numbers. Compared to last year, the Demand Index increased 29.1 percent in November. The number of buyers requesting tours increased 41.3 percent, and 10.5 percent more wrote offers. Demand has consistently remained about 30 percent higher than last year’s levels since May.
The Demand Index is adjusted for Redfin’s market share growth. A level of 100 represents the historical average for the three-year period from January 2013 to December 2015.
Across the 15 metros covered by the Demand Index, there were 18 percent fewer homes for sale last month than at the same time last year. November marked the 30th straight month of year-over-year inventory declines in these major markets and the fifth consecutive month of double-digit declines. New listings increased modestly by 1.5 percent year over year in November.
Below, we provide a slideshow of local charts for each of the metros tracked by the Redfin Housing Demand Index. If you’d like to learn more about a particular market, please email press@redfin.com.
