Real Estate Market Continued to Slow in June

SEATTLE, Aug. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage, today released its Fastest Markets report for June 2013. The report found while homes are still selling near their fastest recorded rates, the housing market continuing the gradual slowing pattern that began in April as inventory started to rebound. Included in the report is also a ranking of 22 markets across the country ordered by the percentage of homes that went under contract within 14 days of their debut.

In June, 30.5 percent of homes went under contract within two weeks of being listed, down from 31.9 percent in May. The 1.4 percentage point drop was the largest seen in the US housing market since December 2012.  Nineteen percent of homes went under contract within one week in June, down from 19.9 percent in May.

The June slowdown follows three months of gains in the number of homes for sale and the subsequent easing of competition among homebuyers.  Additionally, the interest rate hikes that began in May led some active homebuyers to take a step back from the market and reassess what they could afford while others were deterred from entering the market. As a result, homebuyers who were committed to continuing their home searches felt a reduced sense of urgency to submit an offer within hours of a home being listed for sale.

"Even though Bay Area listings are now receiving a fraction of the number of offers they did just a couple of months ago--five to eight instead of 30 to 40--homebuyers are still acting quickly when they see a home they like," said Redfin San Francisco area manager Charmaine Frank. "Offer deadlines are becoming less common, but buyers are still anxious to get their offers in early to find out if they have a chance, or move on."

Other key findings include:

• Silicon Valley (San Jose), CA was the fastest-moving market, with 52% of new listings under contract within two weeks, a slowdown from 58% in May.
• Las Vegas and Philadelphia were the slowest-moving markets in June, with 11% and 9% of homes under contract within 14 days of their debut.
• The three fastest markets were all in California, followed by Denver (#4) and Washington, DC (#5).
• While all 22 metro areas remained in seller's market territory, with six months of supply or less, Atlanta came the closest with 5.7 months of supply.
• Miami and New York led the nation with the largest month-over-month increases in the rate of homes going under contract in 14 days, increasing six and 1 percentage points respectively.
• Sacramento and San Diego saw the largest decreases in the rate of homes going under contract in 14 days, with drops of six and seven percentage points respectively.
• Houston saw the largest year-over-year increase in the rate of homes going under contract in 14 days, up to 38% from 18% in June 2012.  Phoenix slowed the most in the last year, dropping from 41% to 33% of homes going under contract within two weeks.

Despite the market's slowdown, the most popular homes still went under contract so quickly that many homes were already under contract before ever appearing on the most popular real estate portal sites. This report also includes an analysis of 10,000 broker-listed homes for sale that went under contract within one week. Fifty-two percent of these homes never appeared as active listings on Zillow.com, while an additional 13 percent appeared only after the home had gone under contract.

To read the full report, complete with a speed ranking of 22 real estate markets, click the following link. http://www.redfin.com/research/reports/real-time-fastest-markets.

About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate broker that represents people buying and selling homes. Founded and run by technologists, Redfin has a team of experienced, full-service real estate agents who are advocates, not sales-people, earning customer-satisfaction bonuses, not commissions. Redfin's online tools feature all the broker-listed homes for sale, as well as for-sale-by-owner properties that don't pay brokers a commission. The company serves 22 U.S. markets and has closed more than $8 billion in home sales. In 2012, Redfin was named one of The DIGITAL 100: World's Most Valuable Private Tech Companies by Business Insider. Follow us on our blog (blog.redfin.com), Twitter (@redfin), and Facebook (facebook.com/redfin), Redfin Collections (www.redfin.com/collections), and on our mobile apps (www.redfin.com/mobile). 

SOURCE Redfin