Buyers in 'Strongest Position in Years'

In January, the supply of for-sale homes grew at its fastest rate since May 2015, and home prices increased by the smallest annual rate on record since March 2012, 2.9 percent.

The median sale price for the month was $285,900, down 2.1 percent over the previous month. As well, the median days on market for the nation's for-sale housing stock was 57, up 6 days month over month and 1 day annually. The share of homes sold over the list price was 16.7 percent, down 3.5 percent over January 2018 and dropping 1.4 percent from December 2018.

“Things are looking good for buyers in 2019. The supply of homes for sale is increasing faster than it has in nearly four years,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “December was a rough month for home sales, but homeowners appear to be undeterred in the new year as more are listing their homes for sale. We predicted price growth would slow down and that prices would drop in coastal cities like San Francisco and Seattle, but we didn’t know how sellers would react to a cooler market. It’s encouraging to see that listings are up–it means that sellers aren’t taking the ball and going home.”

Read more