On the heels of local reports of sliding prices, Redfin has reported that national home prices fell 1 percent last month, marking the first annual price drop since 2012. The median U.S. home price in February was $386,721.
Median sale prices fell from a year earlier in 31 metros, led by San Jose ( down 13.1 percent), Austin ( down 12.4 percent), Oakland ( down 11.3 percent), Sacramento ( down 8.2 percent) and Oxnard ( down 7.3 percent).
Just under half of homes that went under contract in February did so within two weeks, down from 60.2 percent one year earlier. Pending sales rose 0.3 percent in February from the month before on a seasonally-adjusted basis, and were down 26 percent from a year earlier—an improvement from the 35.5 percent record annual drop in the fall.
New listings last month were at the lowest level on record aside from the start of the pandemic. They fell 23.3 percent year-over-year on a seasonally-adjusted basis and were down 3.5 percent from January 2023.