Our research team releases regular monthly housing trends reports. These reports break down inventory metrics like the number of active listings and the pace of the market. In addition, we continue to give readers more timely weekly updates, an effort that began in response to the rapid changes in the economy and housing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Generally, you can look forward to a Weekly Housing Trends View and the latest weekly housing data on Thursdays with a weekly video update from our economists on Fridays. Here’s what the housing market looked like over the last week.
What this Week’s Data Means:
Our weekly data suggests that the U.S. housing market keeps progressing toward a more balanced market. As both buyers and sellers adjust to the rebalancing market, expectations shift, reducing the sense of urgency in the market and reinforcing the trend toward longer sale timelines. This week is the fourth consecutive week with homes sitting longer on the market than this time last year.
In July, we saw the first sign that the housing market’s rebalance may affect homeowners’ eagerness to sell, and this trend continued this week. While the median listing price is up 14.4% from a year ago, seller sentiment has declined. The number of newly listed homes–sellers putting homes on the market–keeps falling, down 12% from a year ago. As a result, the growth of housing inventory slipped to 26% year-over-year compared to a peak growth rate of 30.4% three weeks ago. This pullback from sellers could slow the speed at which the housing market rebalances. In other words, buyers looking for more bargaining power may need patience.
Another critical point for buyers and sellers to remember is that location matters. For example, the Realtor.com 2022 Hottest ZIP Codes report shows that despite a generally cooling housing market nationwide, ZIPs in the Northeast, particularly in historic New England, remain competitive, with homes selling quickly and attracting more shoppers than in other parts of the country. Of note, the data that underpins this report is also available on Realtor.com to help home sellers and buyers prepare for local conditions. Look for “Hot Market Insights” in the neighborhood section of listings pages in hot ZIPs like our number four market, Derry, N.H., so that if you’re buying or selling in one of the hottest ZIPs in your area, you can adapt your expectations and strategies accordingly.
Key Findings:
- The median listing price grew by 14.4% over last year.
The typical asking price of for-sale homes was up from last year by double-digits for a 36th week. The weekly trends have declined from the 16-17% year-over-year growth rate range seen from May to July. While a seasonal decline in listing prices from July to August is typical, the first few weeks of August indicate that the decline in the median listing price-which began in July as the it slipped $1,000 from its June all-time high-will drop more than would be typically expected for the seasonal slowdown.
- New listings–a measure of sellers putting homes up for sale–were again down 12% from one year ago.
This week marks a seventh straight week of year over year declines in the number of new listings coming up for sale and a second consecutive week with double digit declines, suggesting that homeowners are less eager to list homes for sale compared to last year, even though today’s median listing price is more than 14% higher. With the costs of purchasing today’s typical for-sale home up more than 50% compared to a year ago, and nearly three-quarters of today’s potential sellers also planning to buy another home, it seems that more homeowners are deciding to stay put, even though home equity remains at a record high.
- Active inventory continued to grow, but the pace slipped to 26% above one year ago.
The rate of improvement slipped again this week as the number of new listings continues to decrease. Today’s shoppers still have many more homes to consider than last year’s shoppers did, but our July Housing Trends Report showed that the active listings count still trails its 2020 and 2019 levels by more than 15% and 45%, respectively. And with current homeowners more reluctant to sell in a rebalancing market, and builders adapting to lower demand by cutting starts and permits and shifting from single-family to multi-family construction, it may take longer for the housing market to rebalance.
- Homes spent four extra days on the market compared to this time last year.
For a fourth week in a row, homes are sitting on the market for a longer time than last year, but the gap has decreased moderately this week. However, these shifts don’t occur in every location at the same pace. In fact, the Realtor.com 2022 Hottest ZIP Codes report shows that ZIPs in the Northeast, and particularly in historic New England, remain competitive as flexibility gives home shoppers the ability to locate further from big city jobs centers in their search for a home.
Data Summary:
| All Changes year-over-year | Year-to-Date 2022 | Week ending Aug 6, 2022 | Week ending Aug 13, 2022 | Week ending Aug 20 , 2022 |
| Median Listing Prices | +14.7% | +15.5% | +13.3% | +14.4% |
| New Listings | 2.6% | -8% | -15% | -12% |
| Active Listings | -0.1% | +28% | +27% | +26% |
| Time on Market | 6 days faster | 3 days slower | 5 days slower | 4 days slower |
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Jiayi Xu
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