Redfin: Demand Loses Steam in October as Home Tours, Offers Fall

Housing has made significant strides in 2012, but the market may close out the year with a whimper, according to data in ""Redfin's"":http://www.redfin.com/home Real-Time Demand Pulse for November.

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Data collected from October shows the number of customers requesting home tours fell 3.0 percent from the previous month.

At the same time, the number of offers signed see-sawed from week to week, leading to an overall 3.8 percent decline at month-end.

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While it's not unusual for demand to sink in Q4, the decrease this year was more pronounced: In October 2011, requests for home tours fell only about 0.5 percent from the month prior, while signed offers slipped 3.7 percent.

Based on October's figures, Redfin expects sales to slow down in November and December, possibly falling slightly below last year's levels in some parts of the country.

""We have been bullish about the U.S. real estate market overall, but in October demand among home-buyers took a step backwards,"" said Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman. ""This trend will be even stronger in November due to Hurricane Sandy, but it isn't just the time of year or the weather. Many markets are intensely competitive and inventory is very low, so plenty of our home-buyers are taking the rest of the year off.""

The company's data showed inventory was down 29.3 percent year-over-year at the end of September. The decline in tours was most likely due to that drop in inventory--a problem on course to fix itself as ""sellers regain confidence"":https://themreport.com/articles/redfin-sellers-gaining-confidence-as-market-shifts-2012-11-07 and make a return to the market in the next few months. Until that time, however, Redfin expects touring volume to remain low.