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Birmingham weekly real estate update

If anything can be said about the current state of the real estate market, it’s that change is coming. For the last two years, the pandemic has kept mortgage rates extremely low across the U.S.—with rates dipping below 3% at certain points. Those record-low mortgage rates made it a lot less expensive for buyers to borrow money for home purchases, despite home purchase prices skyrocketing in markets across the nation.

That trend has now changed course. As of the week of Feb. 11, rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage loans had topped 4% for the first time since 2019. That’s not only a jump from the week prior when rates hovered around 3.83%, but is also an unwelcome milestone for borrowers who were looking to purchase homes at record-low rates. This rate shift could also have a significant impact on other areas of the market—from refinancing loans to the rate of mortgage applications—over time.

That’s not the only significant real estate market shift that has occurred this week either. Not only are buyers facing rising interest rates, but home prices continue to soar, too. Right now, homebuyers are currently facing one of the priciest housing markets in history—and, in turn, the average purchase loan size has grown. The average purchase loan size for conventional loans set a new record of $453,000. The larger average mortgage loan is a clear sign homebuyers are borrowing larger sums of money to purchase homes in this expensive market.

To help you stay current on what’s happening in the housing market, real estate platform ZeroDown compiled a weekly real estate market report for Birmingham using data from Redfin. Housing market statistics feature data for the four weeks ending Jan. 30, 2022. Metros with more than 50 homes sold during the time period were considered for metro-level rankings for each statistic.

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Median sales price

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Median sales price: $253,362
– One-year change: +10.8%

Metros with highest median sales price
#1. San Francisco, CA metro area: $1.4 million
#2. San Jose, CA metro area: $1.4 million
#3. Santa Cruz, CA metro area: $1.1 million

Metros with lowest median sales price
#1. Cumberland, MD metro area: $119,208
#2. Bay City, MI metro area: $119,612
#3. Saginaw, MI metro area: $132,788

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Median sales price per square foot

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Median sales price per square foot: $139
– One-year change: +18.4%

Metros with highest median sales price per square foot
#1. San Francisco, CA metro area: $989
#2. San Jose, CA metro area: $823
#3. Kahului, HI metro area: $821

Metros with lowest median sales price per square foot
#1. Cumberland, MD metro area: $80
#2. Bay City, MI metro area: $87
#3. Youngstown, OH metro area: $88

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Sales to list price ratio

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Average sales to list price ratio: 1.00
– One-year change: +0.02

Metros with highest sales to list price ratio
#1. San Jose, CA metro area: 1.10
#2. Oakland, CA metro area: 1.07
#3. San Francisco, CA metro area: 1.07

Metros with lowest sales to list price ratio
#1. Rome, GA metro area: 0.96
#2. Cumberland, MD metro area: 0.96
#3. St. Joseph, MO metro area: 0.96

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Homes sold with price drops

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Homes sold with price drops: 16.5%
– One-year change: -2.8%

Metros with most homes sold with price drops
#1. Grants Pass, OR metro area: 39.3%
#2. Morristown, TN metro area: 37.2%
#3. Eau Claire, WI metro area: 36.3%

Metros with least homes sold with price drop
#1. Hinesville, GA metro area: 7.6%
#2. Clarksville, TN metro area: 8.2%
#3. San Jose, CA metro area: 8.4%

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Off market in two weeks

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Off market in two weeks: 13.0%
– One-year change: -3.1%

Metros with the most homes off market in two weeks
#1. Seattle, WA metro area: 80.9%
#2. Denver, CO metro area: 79.7%
#3. Coeur d’Alene, ID metro area: 75.9%

Metros with the least homes off market in two weeks
#1. Myrtle Beach, SC metro area: 0.8%
#2. Oshkosh, WI metro area: 3.8%
#3. Green Bay, WI metro area: 4.4%

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Months of supply

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Months of supply: 10.5 months
– One-year change: -1.9 months

Metros with the most months of supply
#1. Atlantic City, NJ metro area: 23.9 months
#2. Beaumont, TX metro area: 23.2 months
#3. Cumberland, MD metro area: 20.9 months

Metros with least months of supply
#1. Lewiston, ME metro area: 1.6 months
#2. Portland, ME metro area: 2.8 months
#3. Olympia, WA metro area: 3.0 months

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