Average price increased by 7.4% last month, as we noted in the previous section, from $1,242,793 to $1,334,544. And that’s after a 7.3% increase from December to January, wow! We are literally seeing the average home price increase over $100,000 per month so far in 2022. Year-over-year, that $1,334,544 figure is 27.7% higher than the $1,044,957 mark established in February of 2021. The January-to-January increase was 28.6%, so we remain in lockstep with year-over-year rates of appreciation. If we see the same thing in March, we can eliminate the “statistical anomaly” argument and this becomes all the more real.
Sales increased a ridiculous 64.5% month-over-month, from a modest 5,636 in January to 9,097 in February. Despite this massive month-over-month increase in sales, we actually saw a year-over-year decline, from 10,929 in 2021 to 9,097 this past month, good for a drop of 16.8%. However, those 10,929 sales in 2021 were an all-time record for February. Second-place on that all-time list? February of 2022. If you’re confused by the sales figures, what’s next won’t make any sense either.
New listings also surged on a month-over-month basis, moving from 7,979 in January to 14,147 in February, good for a huge 77.3% increase. So does that mean we saw a lot in February or a little in January? Maybe both! Because year-over-year, this “huge” number of new listings, 14,147, actually dropped from 2021 by 6.6%. But as with the sales data, we can look at February of 2021 as a record month, since those 15,137 sales recorded last year are the most in any February ever recorded, and once again, the 14,147 recorded last month is second-best.
Active listings are what’s going to tie sales and new listings together. Seeing as sales were up by 64.5% and new listings were up by 77.3%, it feels as though inventory is being absorbed at a slightly slower rate, right? More or less. Active listings in February moved from 4,140 in 2021 to 6,985 in 2022; an increase of 68.7%. Year-over-year, those 6,985 active listings were 20.0% higher than the 8,727 recorded in 2021. Do the math, and the absorption rate went from 70.6% in January to 64.3% in February. But if this market is going to balance, we need to see that figure push toward 50%.
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