Despite being down 24.4% year over year, February home sales increased 16.8% from January. That was the largest month-over-month increase in 11 months and ended a five-month streak of sales declines that began in September. This is according to the February 2023 Housing Report released by RE/MAX.
The median sales price of $385,000 increased 0.6% over January, ending a seven-month streak of price declines since the peak of $426,000 in June 2022. Although home prices increased slightly month-over-month, February marked the first year-over-year price drop since January 2012 – as the median was 1.3% lower than a year ago ($390,000).
Inventory increased year over year for the 10th consecutive month, and the number of homes for sale in the report’s 50 metro areas was 55.0% higher than a year ago.
“Prices have steadied and demand is strong, but the lack of available, affordable homes remains a challenge,” said Nick Bailey, RE/MAX President and CEO. “Mortgage rates are top of mind for many buyers, and sales activity should generally follow suit as they move up or down. That’s a big factor to watch as we move into the spring.”
Laurie Thiel, Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Equity Group in Beaverton, OR is already seeing an uptick in demand and activity in her area. “As the market has stabilized, our agents are experiencing increased activity with homebuyers and sellers. Even though the time to sell a home has increased, inventory in the Portland metropolitan market remains limited.”
Other notable metrics:
- Months’ Supply of Inventory in February was 1.7, down from 2.0 months in January but well above last February’s 1.0.
- February’s average close-to-list price ratio was 98%, meaning that homes sold for 2% less than the asking price on average. In January, the ratio was 97%.
- Homes sold in February were on the market for an average of 45 days – three days less than in January but two weeks longer than a year ago.
Of the 50 metro areas surveyed in February 2023, the overall number of home sales is up 16.8% compared to January 2023 and down 24.4% compared to February 2022. The markets with the biggest decrease in year-over-year sales percentage were Anchorage, AK at -42.1%, Miami, FL at -37.2%, and New York, NY at -35.5%. No metro area had a year-over-year sales percentage increase in February.
Click here to read the full report from RE/MAX.
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