Redfin Housing Demand Index Flat In December As Supply Continues To Fall

Redfin, Seattle, said its monthly Housing Demand Index remained nearly flat into the end of 2017, falling by 0.6 percent from 128.3 in November to 127.6 in December.

The report said buyers requesting home tours fell by 3.4 percent, while the number making offers fell 1.8 percent from November.

“Buyer demand is still strong, but wilted a bit in the face of low inventory,” said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson. “The housing market ended 2017 with 170,000 fewer listings than it had a year earlier, which means there were fewer homes for buyers to tour and make offers on. For the fourth consecutive year, inventory will be the major factor shaping the housing market in 2018.”

From a year ago, the Demand Index rose by 8.4 percent and the number of buyers requesting tours improved by 16.7 percent. Meanwhile, the number of buyers making offers slid 5.9 percent.

Richardson attributed the drop in offer activity to inventory, which fell by 20 percent year-over-year in December. “Not only was this the largest inventory decline recorded since 2014, when we first began tracking the metric for the 15 markets included in the Demand Index, but December marked the 31st consecutive month of falling supply,” she said. “The number of homes newly listed in December fell 5.6 percent from a year earlier. Taken together, these numbers tell us that there were plenty of people in the market to buy a home last month, but there simply weren’t enough homes for everyone to offer on and purchase.”

The report is available at https://www.redfin.com/blog/2018/01/redfin-housing-demand-index-remained-nearly-flat-in-december-as-supply-continued-to-fall.html.