New data from Realtor.com indicates that the housing market is off to a slow start, as 15% of U.S. listings experienced a price cut in January.
Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale said the U.S. housing market is off to a slower start this year in many markets, compared to the rapid acceleration seen in January 2018.
“Although the market is slowing, it’s important to remember that we’re coming off of four straight years of inventory declines that pushed the market to a record low availability of homes for sale,” Hale continued. “The real metric to keep an eye on is entry-level homes, which are the key to getting today’s market back in balance. These homes are still in short supply.”
According to the company’s data, the share of homes that experienced a price cut increased by 2% year over year. This increase is attributed to price reductions in the nation’s largest markets.
Notably, 39 of the 50 largest markets saw an increase in year-over-year price reductions, including Las Vegas, which experienced the greatest this month. In this market, the number of sellers slashing prices increased 16% from 2018.
Realtor.com also highlights that across the nation’s largest metros, the amount of time homes spent on the market moderately increased.
“Nationally, homes sold in 87 days in January, two days faster than last year. But the rate of this decline is decelerating,” The company writes. “In January 2018, homes sold a full week faster compared to the previous year.”
In fact, data reveals the typical home located in one of the 50 largest markets, spent an extra day on the market this January. Notably, San Jose, Seattle and San Francisco saw the largest increases, as properties spent 27, 19 and 15 more days on the market, respectively.
Interestingly, the inventory in these expensive West Coast markets is responsible for driving home price increases, according to the company.
“The median U.S. listing price grew 7% year over year to $289,300 in January, slightly lower than last year’s increase of 8%,” Realtor.com writes. “This moderate deceleration in home prices is likely attributed to inventory growth in the upper tier of the nation’s most expensive markets.”
According to their data, the number of homes priced $750,000 and above climbed 12% from last year, while the number of homes $200,000 and under declined by 6%.
