Key housing market takeaways for 400+ U.S. metro areas:

*National data provided by Redfin

• The median home sale price was $382,861, down 1% from a year earlier, the smallest decline in more than three months. Price declines have been shrinking for the last two months. 
• Home-sale prices declined in 25 metros, with the biggest drops in Austin, TX (-11% YoY), Las Vegas (-9.1%), Detroit (-8%), Los Angeles (-7.1%) and Phoenix (-6.8%).
• Sale prices increased most in Fort Lauderdale, FL (8.6%), Miami (8.5%), Providence, RI (5.5%), Milwaukee (5.2%) and Virginia Beach, VA (5.1%). 
• The median asking price of newly listed homes was $397,225 up 0.3% from a year earlier. 
• The monthly mortgage payment on the median-asking-price home was $2,628 at a 6.69% mortgage rate, the average for the week ending June 15. That’s down slightly from the record high hit three weeks earlier, but up 8% ($190) from a year earlier.
• Pending home sales were down 15.7% year over year, continuing a 13-month streak of double-digit declines. 
• Pending home sales fell in all metros Redfin analyzed. They declined most in Milwaukee (-28% YoY), Providence (-26.3%), Seattle (-25.6%), Portland, OR (-24.8%) and San Diego (-23.4%).
• New listings of homes for sale fell 24% year over year, roughly on par with the declines over the last two months. 
• New listings declined in all metros Redfin analyzed. They fell most in Las Vegas (-42.3% YoY), Phoenix (-42%), Oakland, CA (-38.8%), Seattle (-37.4%) and San Diego (-36.2%).
• Active listings (the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period) dropped 8.1% from a year earlier, the biggest drop in over a year. Active listings were up slightly from a month earlier; typically, they post month-over-month increases at this time of year.
• Months of supply—a measure of the balance between supply and demand, calculated by the number of months it would take for the current inventory to sell at the current sales pace—was 2.5 months, the lowest level in nearly a year. Four to five months of supply is considered balanced, with a lower number indicating seller’s market conditions.  
• 32.9% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market, down from 36% a year earlier.
• Homes that sold were on the market for a median of 27 days, the shortest span since August. That’s up from a near-record low of 19 days a year earlier.
• 36.3% of homes sold above their final list price. That’s the highest share since last August but is down from 53% a year earlier.
• On average, 5.3% of homes for sale each week had a price drop, up from 4.8% a year earlier. 
• The average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their final asking prices, was 100%. That means homes are selling for exactly their asking price, on average, for the first time in 10 months. That’s down from 102.2% a year earlier. 

Asheville city and Buncombe county local market update:

Our local market is on pace with the rest of the nation's trends yet on a different scale. We are still seeing a rise in prices with a 10.5% increase in the county and 13% increase in the city since last summer while the major metros across the country are actually experiencing a sharp decline, like Austin, TX, a usual real estate hot spot has now dropped listing prices by 11%.

One key difference is that our inventory is actually up from last year, especially in the city, with a 31% increase in the number of available homes. We have many more homes on the market today than we did in 2021 and 2022 making the claim of a lack of inventory baseless. 

We are also seeing homes sell, even at the escalated prices, for 97-100% of list price in 31-34 days indicating a strong buyer demand. 

Regardless of interest rates, more home buyers are paying cash than ever before, listings are still very competitive, and it remains a strong seller's market. 

If you are looking to purchase this year, go in strong with a high offer price, competitive due diligence, and short timeframe to close in order to win the deal. These trends are not set to leave any time soon with the Feds planning on two more rate hikes before the end of the year as evidenced by only 5.3% of homes on the market nationwide deciding on a price drop before sale.