Weekly Housing Trends View — Data Week August 15, 2020

Our research team releases regular monthly housing trends reports. These reports break down inventory metrics like the number of active listings and the pace of the market. In light of the developing COVID-19 situation affecting the industry, we want to give readers more timely weekly updates. You can look forward to a Weekly Housing Trends View near the end of each week along with weekly coverage from our Housing Market Recovery Index and a weekly video update from our economists. Here’s what the housing market looked like last week.

Weekly Housing Trends Key Findings

• Median listing prices grew at 10.1 percent over last year, the fastest pace of growth since January 2018. After yet another tick up, home asking price growth continues to surprise on the high side. Sustained price gains come as a result of still highly constricted levels of supply and unwavering demand. With sellers gaining leverage, buyers are now contending with rapidly accelerating competition. 
• New listings were down 11 percent. Improvement to new listings lost some momentum this week but the overall four week trend points to improvement in the horizon. The small number of homes for sale has been a key limiting factor for buyers in the market, so continued recovery in new listings is key for home sales in the coming months. 

• Total inventory was down 36 percent. With the number of active buyers growing rapidly and beyond seasonal normals, more deals are taking place late in the summer. That continues to put a dent on overall inventory volumes. 
• Time on market is still 4 days faster than last year. In addition to the sellers’ market pressures, in which homes sell quickly after listing, measured time on market is also dropping as the share of fresh listings rises Traditionally, market velocity peaks in May, but this year we’re seeing that peak evolve during August.

Data Summary