Seasonally adjusted pending home sales rose 2.9 percent nationwide in December, per new numbers out from Redfin. This marks the first month-over-month increase since October 2021.
Pending sales continued falling year-over-year, however, but the decline eased for the first time in 10 months—to 30.9 percent. That’s up from a record 35.1 percent drop in November.
Closed home sales fell 33 percent from one year earlier.
“The small uptick in pending sales suggests some homebuyers returned to the market at the tail end of 2022 after demand plummeted in the fall,” said Redfin Economics Research Lead Chen Zhao. “That’s mostly because slowing inflation has driven mortgage rates down to about 6 percent from a peak of over 7 percent, giving buyers some relief and sending the typical buyer’s payment down nearly $200. Along with the dollar decline in monthly payments, rates traveling down instead of up are helping some sidelined buyers get back into a house-hunting mindset.”
In San Jose, pending sales rose 21 percent month over month on a seasonally adjusted basis—more than any other metro. Anaheim followed with a 15.8 percent increase, followed by Richmond, Albany and Chicago.
On a year-over-year, unadjusted basis, San Francisco was the only metro that saw an increase in pending sales, up 2.4 percent.
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