Press release
Realtor.com® Weekly Housing Report: Home Price Growth Hits Two-Year High as Wildfires and Hurricanes Put the Brakes on New Listings
- Wildfires, hurricanes and Labor Day drove declines in the number of homes for sale - Home prices grew 11.1% year-over-year -- the highest rate in two years
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[{"type":"text","content":"- Wildfires, hurricanes and Labor Day drove declines in the number of homes for sale\n - Home prices grew 11.1% year-over-year -- the highest rate in two years\n - The pressure is on for buyers who want to close ahead of the annual listing drop off\n\n\nSANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The already difficult task of buying a home became even more challenging this week as home price growth hit a two-year high and natural disasters drove the number of homes for sale even lower, according to realtor.com's® Weekly Housing Report for the week ending Sept. 12. Overall, the housing market remains strong but saw a slight tempering last week as wildfires and hurricanes prevented potential sellers across the West and South from listing their homes.\n\"Today's home buyers face some daunting challenges. Home price growth just set a new high of 11% with no indication of a slowdown and there are nearly 40% fewer homes for sale than this time last year,\" said Danielle Hale, chief economist for realtor.com.® \"Inventory is so low that any disruption, such as this week's wildfires and hurricanes, feels even more stifling for would-be home buyers. Although this year is anything but typical, we expect inventory to follow the usual seasonal pattern of tapering off in the next few weeks, but we don't expect buyer demand to drop off as much as usual. Buyers hoping to take advantage of less competition during the housing off-season will likely be disappointed and could find it even more difficult to find a home.\" \nWildfires, Hurricanes and the Labor Day holiday worsened declines in homes for sale \nThe number of new listings hitting the market for the week ending Sept. 12 declined 17% compared to last year, as a result of the natural disasters and Labor Day holiday. There had been some improvement in new listings declines earlier this summer, such as the 11% yearly declines seen in late July and early August. But the combination of natural disasters scaring off sellers and one less work day (Labor Day holiday) resulted in overall fewer sellers putting homes on the market. The total number of homes available for sale is down 39% compared to this time last year. The lack of new listings hitting the market, paired with an incredible number of home buyers, has created a situation where there aren't as many homes as there are buyers. S...