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Birmingham weekly real estate update

As home-buying season kicks off, average mortgage rates exceeded 4%—their highest levels since May 2019, Freddie Mac announced Thursday.

To help you stay current on the market, ZeroDown compiled a weekly real estate market report in Birmingham using data from Redfin. Statistics are as of the four weeks ending March 13. Metros with more than 50 homes sold during this time period were considered for metro-level rankings for each statistic.

Mortgage applications for new home purchases dropped 3.9% between February 2021 and 2022, according to Builder Application Survey data for February 2022 from the Mortgage Bankers Association. This also marks a 1% drop since January of this year. MBA further estimates that new home sales slumped for a third consecutive month in February with 791,000 units sold.

In early March, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell came out in favor of a .25-point interest rate increase to mitigate inflation. Officials responded Wednesday by voting for that increase to interest rates—the first since December 2018—and for six more such hikes before the end of the year. That will translate to higher financing costs for many Americans’ borrowing and credit.

As of Thursday, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate sat at 4.16%—up from 3.09% at the same time last year.

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Median sales price

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Median sales price: $274,219
– One-year change: +12.1%

Metros with highest median sales price
#1. San Francisco, CA metro area: $1.6 million
#2. San Jose, CA metro area: $1.6 million
#3. Santa Cruz, CA metro area: $1.2 million

Metros with lowest median sales price
#1. Cumberland, MD metro area: $99,700
#2. St. Joseph, MO metro area: $122,875
#3. Springfield, OH metro area: $124,662

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Median sales price per square foot

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Median sales price per square foot: $145
– One-year change: +14.7%

Metros with highest median sales price per square foot
#1. San Francisco, CA metro area: $1,106
#2. San Jose, CA metro area: $944
#3. Kahului, HI metro area: $826

Metros with lowest median sales price per square foot
#1. Cumberland, MD metro area: $72
#2. Bay City, MI metro area: $87
#3. Anniston, AL metro area: $90

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Sales to list price ratio

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Average sales to list price ratio: 1.01
– One-year change: +0.02

Metros with highest sales to list price ratio
#1. San Jose, CA metro area: 1.14
#2. San Francisco, CA metro area: 1.13
#3. Oakland, CA metro area: 1.13

Metros with lowest sales to list price ratio
#1. Cumberland, MD metro area: 0.95
#2. Jonesboro, AR metro area: 0.95
#3. Rome, GA metro area: 0.97

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Homes sold with price drops

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Homes sold with price drops: 13.9%
– One-year change: -4.3%

Metros with most homes sold with price drops
#1. Grants Pass, OR metro area: 38.7%
#2. Watertown, NY metro area: 35.8%
#3. New York, NY metro area: 34.0%

Metros with least homes sold with price drop
#1. San Jose, CA metro area: 3.8%
#2. Seattle, WA metro area: 3.9%
#3. San Francisco, CA metro area: 5.3%

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Off market in two weeks

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Off market in two weeks: 12.1%
– One-year change: -9.9%

Metros with the most homes off market in two weeks
#1. Seattle, WA metro area: 92.2%
#2. Olympia, WA metro area: 88.9%
#3. Denver, CO metro area: 88.7%

Metros with the least homes off market in two weeks
#1. Myrtle Beach, SC metro area: 1.4%
#2. Appleton, WI metro area: 3.1%
#3. Urban Honolulu, HI metro area: 5.4%

FOTOGRIN // Shutterstock

Months of supply

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Months of supply: 8.7 months
– One-year change: -1.9 months

Metros with the most months of supply
#1. Atlantic City, NJ metro area: 18.7 months
#2. New York, NY metro area: 17.8 months
#3. Glens Falls, NY metro area: 15.7 months

Metros with least months of supply
#1. Lewiston, ME metro area: 2.0 months
#2. Seattle, WA metro area: 3.0 months
#3. Denver, CO metro area: 3.0 months

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