Housing market activity picked back up last week after a hiccup during the week of Memorial Day. Newly pending sales returned to growth after last week marked the first dip since mid-April. And new listings are up 17% from the previous week, but it appears to not be enough to keep up with buyer demand as total inventory continues to fall. 

Newly pending sales bounce back after holiday weekend dip

• Newly pending sales grew 13.6% from the previous week, and are up 28.5% month over month. 
• Phoenix and Denver are the only two large metros where newly pending sales fell from the week prior. 

New listings are back on the upswing, but not keeping up with buyer demand

• New listings are up 16.9% week over week after slowing during the week of Memorial Day. They remain 19.8% lower than a year ago. 
• Total for-sale inventory fell 2.6% from the week prior as sales picked back up, and is now down 27.4% annually. 

List prices continue to tick up as expensive listings make up a bigger share of the market

• The median list price in the U.S. is $333,372, 1% higher than a week ago and up 4.2% from this time last year. Continued growth in expensive listings, which make up a greater share of the market than they did a month ago, is a driving force behind the rise in median list price.
• List prices are up the most from last year in Cincinnati (up 19.2%), and have fallen the most in Chicago and Baltimore (down 1.9%).

Unemployment puts millions in rental payments in limbo

• Zillow research shows newly unemployed service workers owe $1.2 billion in rent each month, and the millions of Gen Zers who have moved back in with their parents pay $726 million monthly. 
• If moves home become permanent or some payments are missed as government assistance and protections expire, rent price growth could slow.

Zillow’s pending sales and home price forecast remains steady

• The most recent forecast from Zillow’s economic research team shows an expected 1.8% drop in prices from April to October 2020, with a slow recovery through 2021.
• Zillow economists expect pending sales volume reached its bottom in early April, about 50% below February levels. Pending sales are forecasted to recover almost fully by the end of the year.

Methodology

The Zillow Weekly Market Reports are compiled by Zillow Economic Research and data is aggregated from public sources and listing data on Zillow.com. All inventory, sales and price data are reported using a smoothed, seven-day trailing average.

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