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January 2024 » thefivestar.com 59 January 2024 J O U R N A L to be normalizing after prices surged as much as 26% at the height of the pandemic homebuying boom and then fell as much as 4% in early 2023 amid elevated mortgage rates. Price growth is now back to the 2%–7% range where it was prior to the pandemic. Even though elevated mortgage rates have dampened demand in recent months, prices have continued to rise in part because buyers are competing for a limited number of homes. While listings have inched up in recent months, they remain low by historical standards. Purchases Fell Through at Record Rate as Some Buyers Got Cold Feet While pending sales hit the highest level in a year in November, closed sales hovered near their recent low. They were little changed from a month earlier (0.2%) on a seasonally adjusted basis and fell 5.4% from a year earlier. That's partly because a lot of deals fell through at the last minute. Roughly 45,000 U.S. home-purchase agreements were canceled in November, equal to 16.9% of homes that went under contract that month—the highest per- centage in Redfin records that date back to 2017. That's up from 16.8% one month earlier and 15.6% one year earlier. Key Findings for November 2023: » The median sale price was $408,732, representing a month-over-month (MoM) change of -1.1% and a year- over-year (YoY) change of 3.7%. » Pending sales (seasonally adjusted) were 406,687, representing a MoM change of 2% and a YoY change of -0.1%. » Homes sold (seasonally adjusted) were 411,958, representing a MoM change of 0.2% and a YoY change of -5.4%. » New listings (seasonally adjusted) were 504,263, representing a MoM change of 1.3% and a YoY change of 0.1%. » All homes for sale (active listings) sat at 1,504,094, representing a MoM change of 3.9% and a YoY change of -7.9%. » Months of supply was 2.9, representing a MoM change of 0.2 days and a YoY change of -0.1 days. » Median days on the market was 36, representing a MoM change of 2 days and a YoY change of -1 days. » The share of for-sale homes with a price drop was 18.7%, representing a MoM change of -1.3 percentage points and a YoY change of -0.7 percentage points. » The share of homes sold above the final list price was 28.7%, representing a MoM change of -3 percentage points and a YoY change of +2.3 percentage points. » The average sale-to-final-list-price ratio was 99%, representing a MoM change of -0.3 percentage points and a YoY change of +0.5 percentage points. » Pending sales that fell out of contract, as % of overall pending sales, was 16.9%, representing a MoM change of +0.1 percentage points and a YoY change of +1.3 percentage points. » The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate sat at 7.44%, representing a MoM change of -0.18 percentage points and a YoY change of +0.63 percentage points. Metro-Level Highlights for November 2023: » Pending sales: In Anaheim, Califor- nia, pending sales rose 18.7% year over year, more than any other metro Redfin analyzed. Next came San An- tonio (16%) and Richmond, Virginia (14.5%). The biggest declines were in Greensboro, North Carolina (-30.2%); Birmingham, Alabama (-27.6%); and Knoxville, Tennesse (-27.4%). » Closed sales: Closed sales climbed from a year earlier in just six metros, with the biggest increases in North Port, Florida (26.1%); Orlando (6.3%); and Cape Coral, While some homebuyers and sellers have come to terms with today's economic uncertainty, that same uncertainty is causing many of them to get cold feet.