In January, the number of homes newly listed for sale rose 4.4% from the previous year, boosting the number of homes for sale up 6.3%, the largest supply increase since May 2015, according to new data from Redfin.
“Things are looking good for buyers in 2019. The supply of homes for sale is increasing faster than it has in nearly four years,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said. "December was a rough month for home sales, but homeowners appear to be undeterred in the new year as more are listing their homes for sale."
"We predicted price growth would slow down and that prices would drop in coastal cities like San Francisco and Seattle, but we didn’t know how sellers would react to a cooler market. It’s encouraging to see that listings are up–it means that sellers aren’t taking the ball and going home,” Fairweather concluded.
According to Redfin’s analysis, home-sale prices moved forward 2.9% on an annual basis, coming in at a median price of $285,900, Furthermore, home prices fell year over year in 10 of the 81 largest metros, including San Francisco and Portland, signaling a major shift in West Coast markets.
The image below illustrates the deceleration of West Coast price growth (click to enlarge):
Nationally, completed home sales retreated for the sixth consecutive month, and declined 7.6% from the same time period a year prior. In fact, home sales fell in 57 of the 81 largest housing markets.
“In January 16.7% of homes sold above the list price, down from 20.2% in January 2018, and the smallest share recorded in four years,” Redfin continued. “Meanwhile 23.2% of homes on the market in January had a price drop, up from January 2018’s share of 18.9%. The share of homes that went under contract within two weeks dipped to 13.3%in January, down from the January 2018 level of 16.1%.”
The image below highlights annual growth of home sales in January (click to enlarge):
