Redfin tells us that housing demand dropped a heavy -9.6% in June 2018 compared with June 2017. The number of people requesting house tours in June 2018 was also down -6.1%, according to the Redfin Index which is seasonally adjusted and covers 15 large metros,
The long, brewing impasse among continued weakening in the affordable housing sector, continued rising prices and continued high student loan debt is now undeniably apparent. The only element that took a break in this stalemate was the Fed’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged at its meeting this week.
There were slight increases in listings, according to the National Association of REALTORS®, in June but those increases occurred in the hottest of the hot markets, such as Seattle and Washington DC, where buyers appeared to be uninterested. (By the way, prices in Seattle increased +15% in June.)
Pete Ziemkiewick, Redfin’s head of analytics, said, “As much needed inventory increases finally arrive in some of the (country’s) hottest markets, buyers are taking the opportunity to be choosy, offering only on well-priced homes….with more homes to go around, buyers don’t need to bid as aggressively to win bidding wars, so prices, while still growing, are growing at a lower rate, and home sales are slowing.”
Chicago and Atlanta, inventory starved, moderately hot markets with moderate price increases of +3% and +5% respectively, are continuing to experience rising buyer demand. Southern California markets, where sales volume plunged -11% in June 2018, continue to perk along in terms of demand and sales…but the perking is different.
According to David Fogg with Keller Williams Realty, “We’re still selling most every home here, but it’s usually with just one or two offers over the 10-15 offers we were seeing earlier in the year.”
