America’s Housing Market Just Hit a Speed Bump That Could Completely Change the Homebuying Game

How much of a difference does five days make? In today's fast-paced housing market where real estate listings get snapped up almost overnight, a whole lot.

Homes typically linger on the market just 34 days, so a five-day upswing is huge. Here's what this and other recent fluctuatuions mean, so that both homebuyers and sellers can stay on top of the dynamic world of real estate today.

Homes are sitting on the market

Last year's compressed home sale timelines are lengthening. For a third week in a row, homes are sitting on the market for a longer time than last year, and the gap has increased each week.

Indeed, previois weeks show time on the market inching up by one day for the week ending July 30, and by three days for the week ending August 6.

This new breather not only offers homebuyers more time, but also paves the way to a less frantic home-shopping mindset overall.

As both buyers and sellers adjust to the reblanacing market, expectations shift, reducing the sense of urgency in the market and reinforcing the trend toward longer sale timelines.

In other words, listings may linger even longer once homebuyers start kicking back and thinking, "What's the rush?"

Home prices are still going strong

Although homes might be taking longer t sell, homebuyers shouldn't expenct major discounts yet. For the week ending August 13, median listing prices rose by 13.3% from a year earlier.

The typical asking price of for-sale homes was up from last year by double digits for a 35th week. But while home prices are still near record highs - clocking in currently at a national median of $449,000 - home price growth has been tapering for three straight weeks, down from its 16.6% peak in July.

This means that home sellers who are hoping for the good ol' days of way-ver-asking-price bidding wars may be in for a rude awakening.

Even though asking prices are still climbing, July data show that more sellers overreached what buyers were willing to pay, and had to to reduce their asking price.

The number of new listings dropped a lot

Despite home prices still being near record highs, for the week ending August 13, the number of new listings on the market plummeted by 15% from a year earlier.

This week marks a sixth straight week of year-over-year declines in the number of new listings coming up for sale. The early 2022 enthusiasm that homeowners had toward selling is evaporating.

As such, home sellers who do list are still hot commodities.

The housing market isn't unfriendly to selleres right now. It's important to keep these shifts in perspective. In short, we are still firmly in a seller's market. Homeowners who price their homes competitively are still likely to see an offer or more in a reasonable time frame.

Mortgage rates dipped

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 5.13% from the previous week's 5.22% according to Freddie Mac, for the week ending August 18.

This is no doubt welcome news to cash-strapped homebuyers who are looking for any break financially, although this will depend on where they're shopping.

Works Cited

Dutton, Judy. “Whoa! America’s Housing Market Just Hit a Speed Bump That Could Completely Change the Homebuying Game.” Real Estate News & Insights | Realtor.com®, Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®, 18 Aug. 2022, www.realtor.com/news/trends/housing-market-column-week-august-13-real-estate-rush-speed-bump/.