Home Purchasing Demand Continues to Soar to New Record Highs

Redfin, the Seattle-based, technology-based real estate brokerage, is reporting that their Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index (HDI) for the week ending November 14, 2021 hit a new all-time high since at least 2017. The HDI is a seasonally adjusted measure of requests for home tours and other home-buying services.

The market also continues to speed up, with an increasing share of homes selling within two weeks. Demand is accelerating as the number of homes listed for sale is decreasing at a slightly slower rate than in 2019 and 2020. New listings are down -12% in the past six weeks, but this is a smaller drop than the -18% decrease over the same period in 2019.

In a statement prepared for the release of the HDI, Redfin’s Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said, “The economy is recovering strongly, and mortgage rates are still near all-time lows. Those two forces combined have caused homebuying demand to hit a record high. People who tried to buy a home in the spring are coming back for round two, only to find the market is still quite difficult because of a lack of homes for sale. A lot of homebuyers wish they had bought last year, now that it’s not just homes that are more expensive, but also gas, groceries, and dining out. Many buyers today are limited to move-in ready homes because it is so difficult and expensive to purchase new appliances or find contractors to make improvements.”