Sales Growth Slows as New Listings Drop by 1.8 Percent
Boston Homes Sold Twice as Fast in May than in April
San Francisco Home Prices Soar 25% From Last Year
Homes sold at their fastest pace in nearly two years, with the typical property on the market only 28 days in May, down from 32 in April. Last month, 35.6 percent of homes went under contract within two weeks of their debut, just shy of the peak rate of 35.8 percent exactly two years ago.
Home sales across Redfin markets rose 5.4 percent in May from April and 3.1 percent from a year earlier. For the last three years there’s been a double-digit spike in homes sold; this year, an inventory shortage has kept a lid on that growth.
Even as homes sold more quickly, May showed a significant slowdown in month-over-month price growth, up just 1.6 percent. That’s relatively low — in each of the past five years, prices rose at least 3 percent in May. Year over year, the median price was up 6 percent last month to almost $279,900, a marked drop from the 7.7 percent increase in April.
Because of steady buyer demand, inventory has barely budged from last year’s low levels. The number of houses, condos and co-ops for sale in March and April grew by less than 1 percent year over year; they dipped slightly in May.
The composition of buyers — more traditional households and fewer investors — also has kept prices from surging at the double-digit rates seen in 2013.
Data for the May National Market Tracker can be downloaded as an Excel spreadsheet.
Methodology: Redfin’s National Market Tracker follows housing trends in the country’s largest metropolitan divisions (those with population 500,000 or greater) served by Redfin agents. Analysis by Redfin is based on all residential home sales transacted on the multiple-listing service and supplemented by county recorder data where available. Data may be subject to revision. Metropolitan divisions are based the latest definitions released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. To view a breakdown of these regions, click here.
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