The median home sale price rose to a record high during the four-week period ending December 5 as the number of homes for sale fell to an all-time low. There are some signs that homebuying may be returning to a more typical seasonal trend, as the share of homes sold in one week fell after Thanksgiving more than it has since early September and pending home sales fell to their lowest level since February.
“Homebuying demand seems to be returning to a slowdown trend that we’d typically expect to see in the last few weeks of the year,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “The latest research on the Omicron variant seems to be easing consumers’ worst fears, but a lot of uncertainty remains in the economy—from inflation, jobs and wages to how the Fed reacts to those factors. Amid all that economic uncertainty, the notion that home prices will continue to grow in the nearterm feels relatively certain.”
Unless otherwise noted, the data in this report covers the four-week period ending December 5. Redfin’s housing market data goes back through 2012. Comparing today’s market with the pre-pandemic fall market of 2019 highlights how hot the market remains, even as most measures are settling into typical seasonal patterns.
Refer to our metrics definition page for explanations of all the metrics used in this report.
