Redfin reports elevated mortgage rates are curbing homebuyer demand, but prices continue to tick up because there aren’t enough homes for sale
U.S. home prices climbed 0.5% from a month earlier in April on a seasonally adjusted basis, and rose 7.3% from a year earlier, per a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage.
This is according to the Redfin Home Price Index (RHPI), which uses the repeat-sales pricing method to calculate seasonally adjusted changes in prices of single-family homes. The RHPI measures sale prices of homes that sold during a given period and how those prices have changed since the last time those same homes sold. It’s similar to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Indices but publishes more than one month earlier. April data covers the three months ending April 30, 2024.
Home-sale prices have been rising by about a half of a percentage point per month for the last six months. Price growth has stabilized at this rate following dramatic ups and downs during the pandemic homebuying boom and is now on par with pre-pandemic levels.
Elevated mortgage rates and high home prices have cooled homebuyer demand, but prices continue to tick up because there aren’t enough homes for sale. New listings have increased in recent months but remain roughly 20% below pre-pandemic levels. That’s largely because many homeowners don’t want to sell, as they feel “locked in” by the low mortgage rate they scored during the pandemic.
“Some of my younger buyers are considering buying a multifamily home and renting half of it out in order to make their monthly payments pencil out,” said Bonnie Phillips, a Redfin Premier real estate agent in Cleveland.
Last week, homebuyers’ monthly payments came down slightly from April’s all-time high when mortgage rates fell below 7% for the first time in five weeks.
To view the full report, including charts and metro-level data, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/news/redfin-home-price-index-april-2024
