Home sale prices charted their smallest annual increase since July 2020 during the four weeks ending Nov. 6, according to a new report, released Thursday by the online brokerage Redfin.

Prices increased by 3.2 percent year over year, a drop of 8.4 percent from their all-time high recorded in June, according to the report.

The drop comes as the rate of inflation has begun to show signs of slowing, with the all-time inflation index charting a 7.7 percent annual increase in October, the lowest increase since January’s record-breaking 7.5 percent increase.
“This morning’s report that the overall inflation rate is finally starting to back off makes it even more likely that the Fed will slow their rate increase to 50 basis points next month,” Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr said in a statement on Thursday. “The inflation news is already helping to bring daily mortgage rates down. However, Chair Powell has indicated that inflation would need to slow for several consecutive months before the Fed would lower its target for how high it raises rates next year.”

The report notes that the early slowdown in inflation has already begun to inch mortgage rates down after they surpassed 7 percent in October and now sit at 7.08 percent, but that no significant decrease will take place without a sustained period of decreasing inflation.

The median asking price of newly listed homes was $372,475 for the same period, up 7 percent annually but down 7 percent from a record high of $399,975 in May, according to Redfin.

Elevated home prices remain the chief driver of inflation, but the numbers may be changing faster than we realize, Marr said.

“Still-high home prices are propping up inflation,” he said. “But things are changing fast—faster than the numbers we have would suggest. The employment numbers that came out today don’t reflect this week’s layoffs, and prices of the past month’s closed sales don’t reflect the contracts homebuyers are signing with sellers today. The buyers who remain in this market are likely getting much better deals than the median asking or sale price reflects. The typical home now sells for less than asking, price drops remain at a record high and seller concessions are becoming increasingly common.”

Article BY BEN VERDE