The Ritz Herald
A real estate agent removes an "Open House" sign displayed in the front yard of a home for sale in Columbus, Ohio. © Ty Wright

More Homes Were Sold Last Week Despite Desperately Low Inventory


Published on July 25, 2020

More homes went under contract last week than the week prior, and the housing market kept up its blistering pace, according to Zillow’s Weekly Market Report. Homes that sold last week were on the market for just more than two weeks, tying a record pace in Zillow data that dates back to 2019.

Newly pending sales return to strong weekly growth

  • After falling week-over-week in the past four Weekly Market Reports, newly pending sales rose 10.9% this time around. They remain 2.4% below the previous month.
  • Even with this increased volume, homes continued to fly off the market quickly. Homes that were sold last week typically went under contract after just 15 days, same as the previous week and eight days faster than last year.

With sales strong and no uptick in new listings, inventory falls to new record low

  • New for-sale listings dropped 0.2% from the previous week, and are now down 14.6% year over year.
  • For-sale inventory continues to fall, down 0.9% week over week and 3.3% from the previous month. The uptick in sales pushed total inventory down more than new listings last week.
  • There are now 25.5% fewer homes on the market than this time last year.

Prices continue to rise

  • In the first week of June, the median sale price was $262,600, up 1% year over year.
  • As of last week, the median list price was up 5.3% higher than a year earlier, now at $341,640.
  • With demand strong, only 4.2% of listings had cut their price. That’s 1.3 percentage points lower than the same week a year ago.

Virtual home buying and selling is growing in popularity

  • Americans say they are more likely to buy or sell a home virtually, and virtual tours have become more popular during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new Zillow survey.
  • More than a third of Americans (36%) say they are more likely to try to buy a home entirely online during the coronavirus pandemic, and 30% say after the current outbreak ends, they would do the same.
  • During the pandemic, 43% say they are more likely to try to sell a home entirely online. When the current outbreak ends, 33% anticipate they would still be more likely to try and sell a home entirely online.

Metropolitan Area*

Newly Pending Sales – MoM

Newly Pending Sales – WoW

Median Days to Pending**

New For-Sale Listings – YoY

New For-Sale Listings – WoW

Total For-Sale Listings – YoY

Median Sale Price***

Median Sale Price – YoY***

United States

-2.4%

10.9%

15

-14.6%

-0.2%

-25.5%

$262,600

1.0%

New York, NY

14.1%

1.4%

28

2.3%

-5.8%

-22.2%

$428,540

4.4%

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

6.5%

10.5%

14

-10.1%

0.5%

-27.1%

$658,150

1.1%

Chicago, IL

-3.9%

14.9%

14

-3.4%

-6.9%

-24.2%

$249,100

0.5%

Dallas-Fort Worth, TX

-4.8%

6.2%

24

-18.7%

-3.2%

-21.4%

$280,539

-0.2%

Philadelphia, PA

0.3%

13.9%

10

-13.6%

-0.5%

-35.0%

$259,360

3.6%

Houston, TX

-5.8%

9.2%

19

-14.8%

9.2%

-20.5%

$247,785

-0.1%

Washington, DC

-0.9%

15.5%

8

-15.6%

-1.5%

-34.2%

$428,260

1.4%

Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL

-5.2%

3.0%

33

-11.9%

-3.4%

-10.6%

$311,540

8.2%

Atlanta, GA

-2.7%

-2.5%

17

-16.2%

3.9%

-15.4%

$261,069

0.8%

Boston, MA

-5.6%

40.3%

9

-6.8%

-3.7%

-24.5%

$496,240

4.3%

San Francisco, CA

-2.1%

6.7%

12

-0.8%

1.4%

-10.0%

$840,500

-2.0%

Detroit, MI

5.1%

23.3%

9

-15.5%

-1.1%

-27.6%

$201,790

-0.1%

Riverside, CA

-2.3%

-0.3%

13

-16.5%

7.8%

-39.9%

$386,350

3.0%

Phoenix, AZ

-10.2%

6.8%

16

-1.1%

8.2%

-27.8%

$300,750

3.1%

Seattle, WA

5.7%

19.5%

6

-15.8%

2.6%

-38.6%

$506,247

-0.7%

Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN

3.3%

6.5%

18

-5.0%

-9.3%

-22.6%

$294,625

4.7%

San Diego, CA

N/A

N/A

9

-10.7%

-1.2%

-36.6%

$598,400

2.9%

St. Louis, MO

1.1%

16.1%

7

-14.5%

-0.6%

-28.4%

$203,672

3.1%

Tampa, FL

N/A

N/A

12

-10.9%

-1.1%

N/A

$243,749

7.7%

Baltimore, MD

-2.6%

12.1%

12

-21.1%

1.2%

-41.0%

$303,858

-0.2%

Denver, CO

-4.2%

30.8%

7

6.8%

0.2%

-24.8%

$437,580

1.2%

Pittsburgh, PA

N/A

N/A

8

8.6%

2.0%

-25.3%

$183,980

1.6%

Portland, OR

-1.7%

23.7%

7

-25.9%

-2.7%

-28.7%

$415,500

1.4%

Charlotte, NC

-8.4%

0.4%

7

-23.9%

10.8%

-36.0%

$261,000

-1.2%

Sacramento, CA

1.2%

6.1%

9

-17.0%

5.0%

-30.5%

$432,750

2.1%

San Antonio, TX

N/A

N/A

29

-28.7%

-5.9%

-18.3%

$244,260

3.1%

Orlando, FL

N/A

N/A

13

-9.8%

-3.7%

-15.2%

$268,980

5.0%

Cincinnati, OH

-1.7%

6.5%

4

-14.0%

-2.0%

-34.1%

$199,720

7.0%

Cleveland, OH

4.7%

5.2%

16

-18.6%

2.3%

-36.5%

$165,080

3.5%

Kansas City, MO

-0.8%

18.8%

5

-21.4%

0.4%

-36.4%

$243,773

3.7%

Las Vegas, NV

-5.7%

-6.9%

22

-13.3%

5.1%

-26.1%

$302,894

2.0%

Columbus, OH

-4.0%

11.4%

4

-18.9%

-3.3%

-32.7%

$223,770

2.9%

Indianapolis, IN

-9.2%

10.5%

5

-19.7%

-4.0%

-34.2%

$212,756

8.9%

San Jose, CA

2.8%

7.6%

19

9.3%

6.3%

-26.8%

$1,134,580

2.7%

Austin, TX

-18.6%

-2.3%

8

-21.4%

-0.5%

-24.3%

$338,935

1.4%

Virginia Beach, VA

N/A

N/A

40

2.2%

-5.5%

-34.4%

$265,900

2.2%

Nashville, TN

N/A

N/A

33

-21.9%

-8.8%

-9.9%

$304,578

0.7%

Providence, RI

-0.3%

22.7%

14

-11.2%

12.7%

-32.1%

$306,700

3.7%

Milwaukee, WI

N/A

N/A

30

-26.9%

-3.6%

-11.7%

$246,180

4.8%

Jacksonville, FL

-8.2%

11.5%

17

-15.1%

5.2%

-27.2%

$256,068

2.6%

Memphis, TN

N/A

N/A

5

-9.8%

7.3%

-35.0%

$204,200

4.0%

Oklahoma City, OK

N/A

N/A

9

-12.4%

6.7%

-25.9%

$193,990

3.5%

Louisville, KY

-7.1%

13.8%

7

-25.7%

-2.4%

-36.2%

$201,730

2.1%

Hartford, CT

-3.6%

1.7%

9

-6.2%

9.5%

-38.7%

$237,500

2.3%

Richmond, VA

N/A

N/A

6

-22.4%

-2.0%

-28.7%

$276,000

6.7%

New Orleans, LA

-5.6%

2.3%

18

-9.6%

9.4%

-33.2%

$221,264

6.6%

Buffalo, NY

-12.1%

12.9%

9

-1.8%

16.1%

-29.0%

$173,119

5.4%

Raleigh, NC

-3.3%

21.0%

5

-4.6%

5.4%

-31.5%

$298,790

1.7%

Birmingham, AL

17.9%

18.1%

9

-6.6%

8.3%

-29.9%

$219,348

-0.5%

Salt Lake City, UT

-2.5%

19.4%

8

-35.7%

-4.9%

-35.7%

$356,180

4.1%

*Table ordered by market size 

**The Days to Pending metric has been restated as of this week’s report, generally producing lower values

***Sales price data as of the week ending June 6

Associate Writer