Weekly Housing Market Update: Seller Activity Rebounds, Giving Homebuyers More Options as Mortgage Rates Inch Down 

Sellers are flooding back into the market, with the number of new home listings growing into the double-digit territory, Realtor.com weekly housing data shows. 

This is helping to propel slow and steady growth in the availability of for-sale homes even as the time on the market gap shrank. 

Buyers will not only have more home options, with more of them newly listed, but they are also likely to find somewhat lower asking prices and more time to make decisions—all buyer-friendly factors as we inch closer to the busy homebuying season.

This week, consumer price data in January showed that inflation picked up for a third month. The monthly jump in prices was the highest since August 2023, while annual inflation was at an eight-month high. 

The producer price index—a measure of wholesale prices—similarly ticked higher, and while energy and food prices were important drivers, core inflation also rose. 

One relatively bright spot was shelter inflation, which declined year over year, despite a larger monthly increase. Coupled with low unemployment, this data means that the Fed will be patient as it calibrates policy to hit its full-employment and price stability mandates. In fact, markets have pushed the odds of any additional Fed rate cuts out to the fourth quarter.

Following the hotter inflation data, 10-year yields climbed, but remain below mid-January’s highs. While mortgage rates declined for a fourth week in a row, they are likely to climb next week as markets fully digest inflation data. 

Already, fewer consumers expected additional mortgage rate declines this year, a drag on home purchase sentiment. However, positive signals from consumers reporting more job security and income growth as well as positive attitudes toward buying and selling and expecting home price increases were enough to offset measured mortgage rate concerns and push the home purchase sentiment index up from last month and last year.

The Realtor.com Hottest Housing Markets report shows that while Manchester-NH just outside of Boston continues to top the list of hot markets where demand outpaces supply, Philadelphia has more than a Super Bowl victory to celebrate. The housing market that’s home to the Eagles was the biggest climber among the 40-largest metros in January meaning the market has improved for Philly’s home sellers