Across the U.S., a shortage of housing supply continued to spark fiery competition in the market in April, with a typical home selling within 40 days of hitting the market, the fastest pace since 2010 and 10 days shorter than last April, according to Redfin’s monthly report released Thursday.
Nationwide, more than one in five homes sold in April found a buyer within two weeks on the market. Denver and Seattle were the top two fastest moving markets, where half of homes went under contract within one week.
The report did not separately break out the luxury segment of the market.
Strong demand has resulted in a five-year upward trend in home prices. In April, the country’s median home sales prices rose 6.2% to $280,000.
As further evidence of market competition, almost one in four homes sold above their listing prices, marking the highest ratio on record, according to Redfin.
However, a lack of housing stock kept a lid on sales, which reported a 1.2% increase year-over-year. Meanwhile, the overall number of homes available for sale fell 13% and new listings dropped 8.8% year-over-year, representing the largest decrease in four years, according to the report.
And the imbalance is unlikely to resolve in the next couple of months. "The market tends to accelerate through June so I wouldn’t be surprised if new records for speed and competition are reached in May and June given what we are seeing now," Nela Richardson, Redfin’s chief economist, said in the report.
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Other major findings in the report include:
The number of homes for sale in Seattle fell by more than one-third in April, the 32nd straight month of year-over-year declines. Houston bucked the declining inventory trend, seeing a 6.3% jump in housing supply from last year. The most competitive market in April was San Jose, California, where 75.4% of homes sold above list price. San Francisco; Oakland, California; and Seattle followed, all with over 60% of homes selling above asking prices. Poughkeepsie, New York, led the nation in year-over-year sales growth, up 36%, followed by Baltimore, Maryland, up 31%. Rochester, New York, had the largest decrease in overall inventory, falling 37.8% since last April. Seattle ranked second, down 35.3%. Chicago was among the slowest-moving markets. A typical home took 63 days to sell in April.