tokar // Shutterstock

Birmingham weekly real estate update

Applications for mortgages reached a 22-year low, as rates rose and the number of home sales fell, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association weekly survey.

“The purchase market has suffered from persistently low housing inventory and the jump in mortgage rates over the past two months,” Joel Kan, an economist with the Mortgage Bankers Association, said in a statement. “These worsening affordability challenges have been particularly hard on prospective first-time buyers.”

The demand for mortgages to buy a home fell 7% last week and was 21% lower compared to one year ago.

The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 5.40% from 5.33%. For a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, the average rate increased to 4.62 % from 4.59%.

Loan refinancing dropped 6% for the week and was 75% lower than a year earlier.

“While rates were still lower than they were four weeks ago, they remained high enough to still suppress refinance activity,” Kan said.

The Federal Reserve meets next week and could announce a new increase for its main borrowing rate. On Thursday, Freddie Mac, the mortgage buyer, reported a 30-year rate of 5.23%. The average rate had not risen above 5% in over a decade before April 2022.

To help you stay current on the market, ZeroDown compiled a weekly real estate market report in Birmingham, AL metro area using data from Redfin. Statistics are as of the four weeks ending June 5, 2022. Metros with more than 50 homes sold during this time period were considered for metro-level rankings for each statistic.

Konstantin L // Shutterstock

Median sales price

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Median sales price: $306,781
– One-year change: +14.8%

Metros with highest median sales price
#1. San Francisco, CA metro area: $1.7 million
#2. San Jose, CA metro area: $1.5 million
#3. Santa Cruz, CA metro area: $1.2 million

Metros with lowest median sales price
#1. Weirton, WV metro area: $109,188
#2. Davenport, IA metro area: $126,625
#3. Cumberland, MD metro area: $127,888

Volodymyr Kyrylyuk // Shutterstock

Median sales price per square foot

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Median sales price per square foot: $158
– One-year change: +16.7%

Metros with highest median sales price per square foot
#1. San Francisco, CA metro area: $1,121
#2. Kahului, HI metro area: $943
#3. San Jose, CA metro area: $939

Metros with lowest median sales price per square foot
#1. Davenport, IA metro area: $87
#2. Carbondale, IL metro area: $88
#3. Peoria, IL metro area: $89

scarp577 // Shutterstock

Sales to list price ratio

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Average sales to list price ratio: 1.03
– One-year change: +0.02

Metros with highest sales to list price ratio
#1. Rochester, NY metro area: 1.15
#2. San Francisco, CA metro area: 1.12
#3. Oakland, CA metro area: 1.12

Metros with lowest sales to list price ratio
#1. Lake Charles, LA metro area: 0.92
#2. Weirton, WV metro area: 0.95
#3. Carbondale, IL metro area: 0.97

ungvar // Shutterstock

Homes sold with price drops

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Homes sold with price drops: 10.4%
– One-year change: -0.0%

Metros with most homes sold with price drops
#1. The Villages, FL metro area: 28.1%
#2. New York, NY metro area: 26.2%
#3. Grants Pass, OR metro area: 25.7%

Metros with least homes sold with price drop
#1. Brownsville, TX metro area: 0.0%
#2. Columbia, MO metro area: 0.0%
#3. Jefferson City, MO metro area: 0.0%

4 PM production // Shutterstock

Off market in two weeks

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Off market in two weeks: 9.9%
– One-year change: -11.7%

Metros with the most homes off market in two weeks
#1. Rochester, NY metro area: 87.7%
#2. Kalamazoo, MI metro area: 82.8%
#3. Wichita, KS metro area: 82.7%

Metros with the least homes off market in two weeks
#1. Urban Honolulu, HI metro area: 2.2%
#2. Oshkosh, WI metro area: 3.3%
#3. Appleton, WI metro area: 4.0%

FOTOGRIN // Shutterstock

Months of supply

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Months of supply: 8.1 months
– One-year change: -0.2 months

Metros with the most months of supply
#1. Lake Charles, LA metro area: 273.9 months
#2. Brownsville, TX metro area: 37.1 months
#3. Atlantic City, NJ metro area: 20.3 months

Metros with least months of supply
#1. Lewiston, ME metro area: 2.9 months
#2. Portland, ME metro area: 3.1 months
#3. Wichita, KS metro area: 3.7 months

This story originally appeared on ZeroDown and was produced and
distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.