Percentage of US homes under contract within 14 days of listing in September rises slightly to 26.6% from 26% in August; market speed expected to fall in October, driven by buyer uncertainty over government shutdown, debt ceiling battle: Redfin

Allison Oesterle

SEATTLE , October 24, 2013 (press release) – Sales within Two Weeks Dropped from 33.4 Percent in April to 26 Percent in August; then Late-September Mortgage Interest Rate Decrease Caused Buyers to Pick up the Pace

Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage, today issued its Fastest Markets Report for September 2013. For the first time in five months, home-selling speed did not decline. Across 23 metro areas, 26.6 percent of homes went under contract within two weeks, a slight boost from 26 percent in August.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131024/SF03548)

As predicted by Redfin last month, lower mortgage rates following the Federal Reserve's decision to leave its stimulus program unchanged created a renewed sense of urgency among rate-sensitive homebuyers during the second half of September. Following the announcement, Redfin agents reported that home-selling speeds picked up, at least temporarily.

"In late September, homes were going under contract within hours," explained KC Brants, a Redfin real estate agent in Seattle. "To handle the surge in demand, some sellers implemented offer review deadlines--a tactic I hadn't seen since early summer."

Overall Fastest/Slowest:

San Jose, CA remained the fastest-moving market, a position it has held since December 2011. In September, 47.6% of listings there went under contract within two weeks, a nearly six point jump from its August speed of 41.9%.
Philadelphia was again the slowest market. Just 7.4% of Philadelphia homes went under contract within two weeks in September, a slight boost from 6.7% in August.

Notable Speed Changes:

Las Vegas saw the biggest month-over-month increases in market speed, with an 8.7 percentage point increase in the rate of homes going under contract within 14 days.
Phoenix slowed the most from August to September, with a 4.6 percentage point drop in the rate of homes going under contract within two weeks of their market debut.
Atlanta sped up the most year over year, with a 19.8 point increase in the percentage of homes going under contract within two weeks.
Sacramento had the biggest year-over-year speed decrease, with a rate drop of 9.1 percentage points.

"Despite sustained lower mortgage rates," said Ellen Haberle, Redfin economist, "market speed probably will fall again in October because of buyer uncertainty related to the government shutdown and debt ceiling battle."

To read the full report, complete with a speed ranking of 23 real estate markets, click the following link.http://www.redfin.com/research/reports/real-time-fastest-markets.

About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate broker that represents people buying and selling homes. Founded and run by technologists, Redfin has a team of experienced, full-service real estate agents who are advocates, not sales-people, earning customer-satisfaction bonuses, not commissions. Redfin online tools feature all the broker-listed homes for sale, as well as for-sale-by-owner properties that don't pay brokers a commission. The company serves 22 U.S. markets and has closed more than $8 billion in home sales. In 2012, Redfin was named one of The DIGITAL 100: World's Most Valuable Private Tech Companies by Business Insider. Follow us on our blog (blog.redfin.com), Facebook (facebook.com/redfin), Google+ (plus.google.com/+Redfin), LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/Redfin), and Twitter (@redfin).

SOURCE Redfin

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