December 2022 brings a record increase in housing supply MABA Massachusetts RealEstate FirstTimeHomeBuyers 

 Homes are lingering on the market longer, up fifteen percent from last year during the four weeks ended December 4, 2022 marking the largest uptick in home supply since 2015. A new Redfin report found home supply isn’t the only market indicator on the rise, its Homebuyer Demand Index, which measures requests for tours and other services, is also growing and is up five percent from last week, as declining mortgage rates are bringing more buyers back into the market. Redfin deputy chief economist Taylor Marr says while this week has been relatively calm and quiet as we approach the end of “one of the most volatile years in housing history,” he says it’s not over quite yet.

 “Next Tuesday’s inflation report is the five hundred pound gorilla in the room, and the Fed’s press conference the next day will bring us much more clarity on how soon and how quickly we can expect mortgage rates to come down in the new year,” Marr said.  “Since we expect only a small decline in prices next year, mortgage rates will dictate housing affordability, and as a result, demand and sales, in 2023. If rates continue declining, more buyers may wade back into the market, as they’ll have lower monthly payments.” According to the report, in eleven of the fifty most populous metros, home prices are falling from last year. They include a seven point eight percent year over year drop in San Francisco, three point six percent in San Jose, California, two point two percent in Los Angeles, one point four percent in Detroit, one point two percent in Sacramento and one point one percent in Pittsburgh. Oakland, California; Anaheim, California; Austin, Texas; Philadelphia and Phoenix had declines of less than one percent.

 Thirty year mortgage rates fell to six point thirty three percent for the week ending December 8, 2022 marking the fourth week in a row of decreases. The daily average, according to the report, was six point twenty nine percent on December 7, 2022. Meanwhile, mortgage applications declined three percent week over week during the week ended December 2, 2022 and purchase applications were down forty percent from 2021. The lower rate brought the average monthly mortgage payment on a median-priced home to two thousand two hundred and ninety seven dollars, down slightly from the previous week and down more than two hundred dollars from a month earlier. Year over year, mortgage payments are up thirty eight percent. Pending home sales fell thirty four point nine percent from last year, again marking the largest decline since January 2015.

 During the week ended December 3, 2022 Redfin found fewer Google searches for “homes for sale” which was down thirty four percent from last year, but up slightly from the previous week. In the four weeks ended December 4, 2022 active listings rose fifteen percent from last year, marking the biggest annual increase since 2105. Meanwhile, new listings fell twenty one point six percent from last year, the largest decline since May 2020. The median asking price of a home rose four point four percent from 2021 to three hundred fifty seven thousand four hundred and seventy dollars, the slowest growth rate since May 2020.  Meanwhile, the median sale price increased one point nine percent year over year to three hundred fifty five thousand and five hundred dollars, up just slightly from the week before.

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