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US weekly real estate update

If you’ve been crossing your fingers that home sales prices will drop in the near future, you may want to prepare yourself for some disappointing news. Despite the ongoing challenges buyers are facing in the housing market, all signs point to the housing market remaining tough for buyers in the near future. Despite the recent mortgage loan interest rate hikes, property analyst experts are expecting that the U.S. will remain a sellers’ market for the next two years, according to a new Reuters poll. What that means for potential home buyers is that housing prices could continue to get more expensive during that time, especially if inventory levels remain low.

And that’s precisely what is expected to happen. Not only do the analysts polled by Reuters believe that the housing market will remain tipped in sellers’ favor for the next two years, but they also anticipate that U.S. housing prices will rise by another 10.3% in 2022. That is a staggering increase in home sales prices—and it is expected to take place right after a record-breaking year for home prices. Last year, a combination of record-low interest rates, extremely low housing inventory, and pandemic-driven buyer demand caused home prices to skyrocket by over 17% on average. That was the strongest yearly increase the housing market had seen in at least two decades—and the anticipated increase for 2022 will only add to the high cost of housing nationwide.

These price and market predictions weren’t the only surprising turn of events to occur in the housing market this week, either. In late February, the average rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage loans climbed to over 4% for the first time since 2019. The Federal Reserve had also been clearly signaling that an interest rate hike would likely occur in the near future. But on March 1, mortgage rates took a downward turn, dropping to 3.9% from 4.18% the week prior. This was due, at least in part, to the Russian attack on Ukraine, which caused markets to tank—and, in turn, mortgage rates to decline unexpectedly. While lower interest rates are typically a good thing for buyers in a normal market, making it cheaper to borrow money, this new drop in interest rates could push more potential buyers into the market. That could make it even more difficult for buyers to land properties at a time when inventory is at record lows. Any subsequent drop in interest rates would likely just add to the current housing market issues.

To help you stay current on the housing market, ZeroDown compiled a weekly real estate market report using data from Redfin. Statistics are as of the four weeks ending Feb. 27. Metros with more than 50 homes sold during this time period were considered for metro-level rankings for each statistic.

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Median sales price

Median sales price: $363,975
– One-year change: +15.7%

Metros with highest median sales price
#1. San Francisco, CA metro area: $1.5 million
#2. San Jose, CA metro area: $1.4 million
#3. Santa Cruz, CA metro area: $1.2 million

Metros with lowest median sales price
#1. Cumberland, MD metro area: $124,750
#2. Springfield, OH metro area: $129,750
#3. Youngstown, OH metro area: $129,750

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Median sales price per square foot

Median sales price per square foot: $200
– One-year change: +18.5%

Metros with highest median sales price per square foot
#1. San Francisco, CA metro area: $1,072
#2. San Jose, CA metro area: $891
#3. Kahului, HI metro area: $835

Metros with lowest median sales price per square foot
#1. Cumberland, MD metro area: $77
#2. St. Joseph, MO metro area: $89
#3. Rockford, IL metro area: $89

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Sales to list price ratio

Average sales to list price ratio: 1.01
– One-year change: +0.01

Metros with highest sales to list price ratio
#1. San Jose, CA metro area: 1.12
#2. San Francisco, CA metro area: 1.11
#3. Oakland, CA metro area: 1.11

Metros with lowest sales to list price ratio
#1. Jonesboro, AR metro area: 0.95
#2. Victoria, TX metro area: 0.96
#3. Cumberland, MD metro area: 0.96

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Homes sold with price drops

Homes sold with price drops: 17.2%
– One-year change: -2.2%

Metros with most homes sold with price drops
#1. St. Joseph, MO metro area: 40.0%
#2. Springfield, OH metro area: 38.3%
#3. Watertown, NY metro area: 38.3%

Metros with least homes sold with price drop
#1. Hinesville, GA metro area: 3.2%
#2. Corvallis, OR metro area: 4.3%
#3. Seattle, WA metro area: 6.0%

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Off market in two weeks

Off market in two weeks: 58.3%
– One-year change: +6.9%

Metros with the most homes off market in two weeks
#1. Seattle, WA metro area: 92.4%
#2. Olympia, WA metro area: 89.2%
#3. Mount Vernon, WA metro area: 87.5%

Metros with the least homes off market in two weeks
#1. Myrtle Beach, SC metro area: 1.8%
#2. Urban Honolulu, HI metro area: 4.5%
#3. Oshkosh, WI metro area: 6.6%

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Months of supply

Months of supply: 7.8 months
– One-year change: -1.8 months

Metros with the most months of supply
#1. Atlantic City, NJ metro area: 22.4 months
#2. Myrtle Beach, SC metro area: 18.1 months
#3. New York, NY metro area: 18.0 months

Metros with least months of supply
#1. Lewiston, ME metro area: 2.3 months
#2. Denver, CO metro area: 3.3 months
#3. Olympia, WA metro area: 3.6 months

This story originally appeared on ZeroDown
and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.