Tag Archives: Demand

Homebuyers hoping for more inventory and greater variety in December didn't get their wish, online brokerage Redfin reported in its latest Real-Time Price Tracker. According to the company's data, the total number of for-sale homes dropped to just below 200,000 in the final month of 2013--a monthly drop of 14.1 percent. While declines are normal for the season, December's decrease was the steepest since at least 2008, says Redfin analyst Tommy Unger.

In its latest forecast, analytics firm Veros Real Estate Solutions predicts home prices will rise on average 5.1 percent for the nation's top 100 metro areas. The company's previous 2014 projections, released last quarter, called for 4.8 percent growth. "The future HPI [Home Price Index] forecast continues to show good appreciation, but the markets appear to be topping out for now," said Eric Fox, Veros' VP of statistical and economic modeling and author of the company's VeroFORECAST.

Homebuyer demand experienced a sharp downturn as the book closed on 2013, according to Redfin's numbers. The company's statistics show the number of customers requesting tours falling 14.8 percent month-over-month in December--more than double the 7.1 percent drop recorded at the same time last year. Meanwhile, the number of Redfin customers making offers on homes fell 20.2 percent, a steeper decline than last year's 16.7 percent drop.

According to Redfin's most recent Real-Time Fastest Markets report, 27.2 percent of homes in 23 metros all over the United States went under contract within two weeks of listing in November.

The National Association of Realtors sent out a national survey in July, 2013 to buyers and sellers who made a transaction at some point in the last year. Among other findings, the survey showed increased use of online resources throughout the process. The first step in the process for 42 percent of buyers was searching online for properties. Use of the Internet to search for homes rose slightly to 92 percent. Eighty-eight percent of buyers purchased their home through an agent or broker--a share that has steadily increased from 69 percent in 2001.

Rising prices may be bringing some homeowners out from underwater, but tight credit will still preclude many traditional buyers from the market, according to a recent report from DataQuick.

Online marketplace Trulia released the latest findings from its Price and Rent Monitor reports, showing a shift in market trends as the housing market prepares for 2014. While price increases for the last few months have slowed down at the national level, numbers suggest the greatest drag is coming from the same markets that only a few months ago were giving the biggest boost to the market. "Price gains are cooling in 2013's hottest markets ... but heating up in markets that haven't been in the limelight," said Trulia chief economist Jed Kolko.

Despite a softening market, competition among buyers remained fairly fierce in October, Redfin reported in its Real-Time Bidding Wars release for the month. Last month, 55.9 percent of offers written by the brokerage's agents faced competition from other buyers, a decline from 58.3 percent in September. Bidding wars have been on a downward slope since peaking at 79 percent in February. Even with the decline, though, competition last month was higher than expected, given the effects of the government shutdown on consumer confidence.

Zillow calculated the median number of days listings spent on its marketplace, at the national, metro, and county levels, dating to January 2010. According to the company's findings, listings in September 2013 were selling in a median 86 days--down 30 days from the same time in 2012. Homes sold faster this September compared to last September in 30 of the largest metros. Those metros include Las Vegas (44 days faster), Sacramento (43 days faster), and San Antonio (37 days faster).

Even with the seasonal slowdown in full effect, shifting market conditions continued to boost October home sales and prices over last year, Redfin reported Wednesday in its monthly Real-Time Price Tracker. The broker recorded 74,363 total home sales across its 19 tracked markets in October, a 1.0 percent decline from September but a 0.6 percent gain over October 2012. Though historically low mortgage rates and reduced competition have helped keep numbers up, Redfin says the situation is liable to change at any time.