What does the latest home sales data say?
The latest report from the team at Altos Research showed that home inventory and sales metrics continuing to climb as we breeze past the start of spring.
As of the time the report was released, there are 513,000 single-family homes available for sale. That’s a 24% increase from the same time last year. Home inventory was also up about 1.1% week-over-week. This indicates that we’re very much in the spring buying season, and the housing market may be more active than last year.
The past week saw 60,300 new listings added to inventory. That’s 14% more than the same week last year. The market also saw 67,000 contracts pending for single-family homes this past week compared to 62,000 last year. This indicates that the rate of sales is climbing into the spring and showing greater activity.
Are homes getting more affordable?
Mortgage rates have cooled considerably, but what about home prices? A report from Marketplace.org detailed recent changes in home prices. Odeta Kushi, deputy chief economist at First American Financial Corp., stated, “You know, when you zoom out, affordability is still very, very low from a historical perspective.”
Of the experts surveyed by Marketplace.org, most agree that home prices will continue to rise, but the differ on how high they’ll go. Charlie Dougherty, an economist at Wells Fargo believes, “home price appreciation is likely to continue, probably a little bit quicker than income growth.” While Chen Zhao, the economic team lead at Redfin said, “I’m not saying that prices will fall, but I do think that prices may become more flat than we have seen in the last couple of years.”
Where are Americans moving to?
A recent study from Realtor.com detailed the fastest growing counties in the US. According to the data, we’re still witnessing a migration of Americans from north to south. Of the 10 fastest-growing counties in the country, eight are in Florida and Texas. The other two spots? Arizona and South Carolina.
New Yorkers moving to Florida has been occurring for decades, but it’s still a consistent trend in 2024. Polk County in Florida is the fastest growing county in the country, and it offers homes with more space at a fraction of NYC prices.
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