Real Estate Market Slowed Slightly in May

SEATTLE-Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered brokerage, recently released its Real-Time Fastest Markets Report for May 2013, showing a slight slowdown in the U.S. housing market. The report ranks 22 markets across the country by the percentage of homes for sale that went under contract within 14 days of their debut. Thirty-two percent of homes went under contract within two weeks of their debut in May, a drop of 1.2 percentage points from April. This is the largest decrease since December 2012. For the same time period, 20% of homes went under contract within one week, a decrease of 1.1 percentage points. One likely contributor to the slowdown was an increase in homes for sale. Inventory grew 4.2% from April to May and 6.4% from March to April. Rising interest rates that occurred between May and June might mean further slowdowns are ahead. Redfin analysts are closely monitoring interest rates in conjunction with the company’s proprietary homebuyer demand data. Initial conclusions suggest that homebuyers already in the market are being more aggressive in their pursuit for a home, while buyers at the very beginning of the process might be discouraged from entering the market.