As Inflation Slows, Demand Rebounds Ahead of 2023

After falling to a low point at the end of October, mortgage-purchase applications and Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index are both posting double digit gains thanks to small reductions in the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, Redfin reports. For the week ending December 15, 30-year mortgage rates dropped for the fifth straight week to 6.31%, while mortgage purchase applications increased 4% from a week earlier and 7.6% from a month earlier, seasonally adjusted.

Despite rising just weeks ahead of 2023, demand and purchase applications are still far lower than they were a year ago, but slowing inflation could lead to regional price drops and may force the Fed to reduce its rate hikes.

The number of metros with declining sale prices is piling up. Home-sale prices fell year over year in 15 of the 50 most populous U.S. metros, many of them in California, compared with declines in 11 of the 50 a week earlier.

Prices fell 7.3% year over year in San Francisco, 5.8% in San Jose, CA, 3.3% in Los Angeles, 3% in Austin, 2.6% in Pittsburgh, 2% in Oakland, 1.9% in Detroit and 1.8% in Sacramento. They declined 1% or less in Anaheim, CA, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, Riverside, CA, Phoenix and Las Vegas.

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