Redfin: New Builds Make Up More Than 30% of Single-Family Market

(Image courtesy Redfin)

Redfin, Seattle, reported that newly built properties made up 31.4% of single-family homes on the market in the second quarter, due in large part to continued supply constraints.

A year earlier, the share of new homes on the market was 30.3%. Both numbers are well above the pre-pandemic share of 17% in Q2 2019.

The share is down from a near-record-high of 33.6% in the first quarter, but Redfin attributes that to a normal seasonal pattern.

“Builders are still building but homeowners aren’t selling, so new construction is the only option for many buyers,” said Shauna Pendleton, a Redfin Premier agent in Boise, Idaho, where new homes made up nearly 40% of single-family inventory in the second quarter. “A lot of buyers want to secure a home now because they’re worried prices are going to go back up, and new construction is more plentiful with perks that are hard to pass up.”

By metro, newly built homes made up more than half (52%) of single-family homes for sale in El Paso, Texas. Also at the top of the list were Omaha, Neb., at 46%, Raleigh, N.C., at 42.1%, Oklahoma City at 39% and Boise at 38%.

Newly built homes made up the smallest share of homes for sale in Honolulu at 2.8%, San Diego at 3.3%, Pittsburgh at 3.3%, Oxnard, Calif., at 3.7% and Detroit at 3.8%.

Metro areas with the biggest uptick in new homes as a share of the market were Tulsa, Okla., (33% vs. 20% a year earlier), Richmond, Va., Albany, N.Y., Phoenix and Elgin, Ill.

Metros with the biggest declines in new builds as a share of homes for sale were Boise (38% of the inventory vs. 49% a year earlier), Austin, Honolulu, Allentown, Pa., and Houston.