Average price increased on a month-over-month basis for the first time since October, but the increase was substantial, moving from $1,038,668 in January to $1,095,617 in February; a massive 5.5% rise! That’s the highest average home price since June of 2022 and it’s higher than every month in the fall, which now seems a market from which we’ve long moved on! On a year-over-year basis, we’ve been waiting for this figure for a while now: 17.9%. That’s the decline from the “peak” in February of 2022 when the average home price hit a staggering $1,334,063. Ever since we came off that peak twelve months ago, I’ve been wondering: “What will the year-over-year decline look like when we get to February of 2023?” Now we know, and while the figure is large, we’ll see that number decline every single month from here on out.
Sales increased a whopping 54.3% from the 3,100 posted in January to 4,783 last month. Keep in mind, those 3,100 sales were the second-fewest in any one month of January since 2002, so that month-over-month increase seems massive but it’s being compared to a near all-time low. Year-over-year, sales are down 47.0% from the 9,028 recorded in February of 2022, although that figure is the second-highest in any February since 2002! It’s tough to gain perspective on a market when you’re comparing to two extremes, each of those at opposite ends of the spectrum. Let’s just say that the sales in February were robust considering how little inventory there was.
New listings only increased by 12.3% from the 7,688 received in January to the 8,367 posted last month, which is quite surprising. We typically see listings ramp up significantly as we move from February through June, and when there’s less offered for sale, we’re certainly going to see less sell! Year-over-year, new listings are down 40.9% from the 14,147 properties listed in February of 2022, and that shows you just how much less choice buyers out there have today, compared to twelve months ago.
Active listings moved up by a mere 1.8%, which is to be expected, given the high sales increase and low inventory increase. We saw 9,299 active listings in January compared to 9,463 active listings in February which shows you just how slow the inventory is building. Properties are being absorbed at a much faster rate and thus there’s marginally more left over at the end of each month. Year-over-year, we saw active listings increase from 4,140 in February of 2022 to 9,463 this past month, good for a 38.1% increase. Keep in mind, this figure was 124.6% in January and 169.05% in December!
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