Buyer Demand Is on the Rise, but Homes Are Still Lingering on the Market

Throughout much of 2022, prospective buyers have delayed their purchasing plans and waited for mortgage rates and home prices to fall from their peak highs, and as rates slowly but surely begin to fall, some house hunters are making their way back in the game. For the week ending December 8, 30-year mortgage rates fell for the fourth straight week to 6.33%, though the daily average was 6.29% on December 7, Redfin reports.

As a result, Redfin's Homebuyer Demand Index–a measure of requests for home tours and other homebuying services–rose 5% from the week prior during the four weeks ending December 4, but measures of buyer demand remained low on a year-over-year basis.

Home-sale prices fell from a year earlier in 11 of the 50 most populous U.S. metros, six of which are in California. Prices fell 7.8% year over year in San Francisco, 3.6% in San Jose, CA, 2.2% in Los Angeles, 1.4% in Detroit, 1.2% in Sacramento and 1.1% in Pittsburgh. They declined less than 1% in Oakland, CA, Anaheim, CA, Austin, Philadelphia and Phoenix.

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