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Zillow reports that housing activity increased, as newly-pending sales grew 13.6% from the prior week and 28.5% monthly.
While new listings were up week-over-week 16.9%, they remain 19.8% lower than they were a year ago. The total for-sale inventory fell 2.6% from the week prior but down 27.4% annually.
The median list price in the U.S. is $333,372—1% higher than a week and 4.2% from this week in 2019.
Zillow stated list prices saw the largest annual increase in Cincinnati, rising 19.2%. Chicago and Baltimore’s rise of 1.9% was the smallest in the U.S.
New forecasts project home prices to fall 1.8% from April to October 2020, with a slow recovery through 2021.
The pending sales volume reached its bottom in April, about 50% below February levels, Pending sales are forecasted to recover fully by the end of 2020.
CoreLogic previously reported in its Home Price Index (HPI) that while prices rose annually 5.4% in April, prices are expected to fall 1.3% by April 2021.
If this prediction holds, this would be the first decline in home prices in more than nine years.
The HPI has increased annually every month since February 2012 and has gained 68.2% since March 2011. As of April 2020, the overall HPI was 13.3% higher than its pre-crisis peak in April 2006.
First American Deputy Chief Economist Odeta Kushi said as “pent-up demand” from the delayed spring-buying season, potential homebuyers have limited inventory to choose from.
“Lack of supply relative to demand is a sure-fire recipe for increasing house price appreciation,” she said.
She added that as more homeowners were “reluctant” to list their homes for sales during the pandemic, available homes available for potential buyers had dwindled further.
CoreLogic states homes in the lowest-price tier rose 7.7% year-over-year in April 2020, compared with 6.7% for the low-to middle-price tier; 5.9% for the middle-to moderate-price tier; and 4.8% for the high-price tier.
Additionally, it was the lowest-priced homes that showed the fastest acceleration in prices in April from last year. Prices on lower-tier homes increased by 106.6% since 2011.
