January 2022 had fewer homes for sale as supply fell twelve percent: Massachusetts Homebuyers Homeownership

 There were fewer homes for sale in January than ever before as homebuyers made their move on what inventory was available, according to a new Redfin report. New listings fell 12.4 percent from December, bringing total homes for sale in January to a record low, down 2.6% month over month. Despite the drop in new listings, sales rose 7.5 percent as homebuyer demand continued. That drop in new listings was the largest decline since May 2020 as new listings fell year over year in eight four of the eight eight largest U.S. metros.

 Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said in the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call that the inventory crunch could ease come summer. “We’re well aware of the economic pressures on homebuyers, but so many people are still so desperate to move that sales, for now, are still mostly constrained by inventory, not prices or even mortgage rates,” he said. With homebuyers having zero leverage for negotiating, even homes that need work are “hyper-competitive” due to all the market investors, according to Dallas Redfin real estate agent Barbara Tidwell-Vincent.

 “Most of the homes hitting the market are listed by people who need to sell estate sales, major life changes, that sort of thing. With so few homes for sale, everything is getting multiple offers,” she said. Mortgage rates rose 0.81 percentage point between Dec. 20 and Feb. 17.  Rising rates could slow competition by summer, according to the report. Nationally, January’s median home sale price was $376,200, up fourteen percent from January 2021. Median sales prices increased year over year in all but one of the 88 cities Redfin tracks. In Bridgeport, Conn., prices fell two percent from 2021 after having a twenty two percent year over year increase in 2021.

 The largest increases were in North Port, Fla. up thirty two percent , Austin, Texas, with a thirty two pwecent increase and Phoenix, up twenty nine percent. January’s seasonally adjusted home sales increased 7.5 percent  from December but were down four percent from January 2021. Sales fell from 2021 in sixty six of the eight eight largest metro areas, with the biggest declines in Fresno, Calif., down twenty nine percent , Seattle, with a twenty two percent decline and San Francisco, down twenty percent . Honolulu, Miami and Tulsa, Okla., had the largest gains, at twenty six percent, ten percent and ten percent respectively. The report also found active listings fell eighteen percent  from 2021 to an all time low in January. Homes were on the market longer last month and were less likely to sell above list price forty two percent of homes sold above list price in January, down fourteen percent from June’s record high, but up nine percent from a year ago.

The post January had fewer homes for sale than ever as supply fell 12% appeared first on Boston Agent Magazine.

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