New housing reports from Fannie Mae, National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), and Redfin present the latest data on home prices, with one focusing on the first quarter of 2023 and the others zeroing in on March.
At first glance, the headlines could be confusing to consumers since Fannie Mae is reporting an increase in home prices for Q1, while Redfin announced a 3.3% annual drop in home prices and NAR a reported 0.9% price decline year-over-year.
All the more reason for you as a real estate agent to stay current on market data and to present the latest developments as clearly as possible—especially when sharing hyper-local market data. Potential buyers and sellers in your area need to know exactly what they can expect.
In addition, the latest Zillow research focuses on the challenges entry-level buyers, in particular, are facing in today’s market with respect to home prices, inventory, and competition. Because what’s happening at the national level doesn’t address trends at different price points, let alone what’s happening in your local market.
Here’s what you need to know to better educate your clients and community.
Quick Summary of the Headlines
According to the Fannie Mae Home Price Index (FNM-HPI), single-family home prices rose at a non-seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4.7% in Q1 of 2023 (compared to Q1 2022), dropping from the previous quarter’s revised annual growth rate of 8.6%.
On a quarterly basis, home prices increased at a seasonally-adjusted rate of 1% in Q1 2023—up from the 0.0% growth rate from the previous quarter (Q4 2022). The quarterly growth rate for Q1 2023 on a non-seasonally adjusted basis is also 1%.
Taking a different angle on the market, the latest report from Redfin announced a 3.3% annual drop in the median home price for March—the steepest year-over-year decline since 2012.
A new report from the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) also highlights an overall annual decline in home prices as well as home sales, along with monthly and annual increases in total inventory.
Those quarterly climbs and annual drops don’t say much about what’s happening at different price points and in different markets across the U.S., which is where the latest research from Zillow comes in.
Entry-level home shoppers, the main focus of Zillow’s report, are faced with faster-rising home prices and stiffer competition than home shoppers at higher price points.
The Best Information Sources For Knowledge Brokers
The four sources cited here are all reputable, reliable sources of information for real estate professionals. And a closer look at the information presented by each shows they’re not really in conflict with each other. Their goal is to share accurate information that professionals in the industry can count on.
That said, we’ve all run across media headlines that present a distorted view of what’s really going on to fit a particular narrative (usually political) and get people clicking and reacting.
Byron Lazine and Tom Toole weighed in on some misleading headlines in a recent episode of the Knowledge Brokers Podcast.
Posted by:
Sarah Lentz
Apr 24, 2023
