The all-important spring housing market is in full swing, and while the pace isn’t expected to be strong, there are signs of optimism, at least among sellers. Some who gave up last year are jumping in again.
Nearly 45,000 homes that were delisted last year were relisted for sale in January, according to Redfin, a real estate brokerage. That’s the highest January reading since Redfin began tracking the metric a decade ago and represents a record 3.6% of homes on the market in January.
The January numbers come as Redfin reported a record number of sellers pulling their homes from the market last September. Nearly 85,000 sellers were delisted, a 28% increase from September 2024. Higher mortgage rates last year, still-high home prices and growing uncertainty in the economy sidelined buyers last fall, stripping sellers of the control they held in the years during and just after the pandemic.
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Ashley Rummage, a real estate agent in Raleigh, North Carolina, said in December, responding to CNBC’s fourth-quarter housing market survey, that more sellers were being asked for concessions and some were simply refusing them.
“A lot of sellers that I’ve met and worked with have just thrown their hands in the air and said, ‘If we don’t get what we want for our house right now or what we think it’s worth, then we’ll put it on the market and maybe try again in the spring,'” Rummage said.
According to Realtor.com, the total inventory of homes for sale nationwide is higher than it was a year ago, but gains are stalling. Active listings rose 7.9% year-over-year in February, but that number has declined for nine straight months. Listings are still down 17% compared to 2019 before the pandemic.
“Inventory levels have been improving for more than two years, but momentum has slowed in recent months,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. “Supply increases were concentrated in the South and West and concentrated in homes priced under $500,000. While the Northeast and Midwest experienced growth, they remain significantly undersupplied.”
With interest rates currently near four-year lows, Hale said the key question is whether this “thaw” will spur more buyers or more sellers. Due to the ongoing war with Iran and renewed fears of inflation, mortgage rates have risen slightly in recent days.
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