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Birmingham weekly real estate update

Rising interest rates continue to curb demand in the mortgage market, with applications down from both buyers and homeowners looking to refinance, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Interest rates are nearing 5%, tamping down applications for the third week in a row, for the week ending April 1.

“As higher rates reduce the incentive to refinance, application volume dropped to its lowest level since the spring of 2019,” Joel Kan, the Mortgage Bankers Associations’ associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting, said in a statement. Kan added that first-time buyers were being disproportionately affected by low inventory and rising costs.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage rose to 4.90% as of Wednesday. A year ago that same mortgage carried a rate of 3.36%. The upsurge comes after two years of rates at record lows. That said, mortgage rates are still relatively low, but with the Fed expected to continue rate hikes as the year continues and inflation sitting at nearly 8%, the general expectation is that rates will continue to climb throughout the year.

Housing prices also are expected to keep rising, though not as fast as 2021. Home values soared last year by nearly 20%. Bidding wars were common, and some sellers could hold out for all-cash offers. The seller’s market remains strong but not as frenetic as last year.

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 2022-04-03. Metros with more than 50 homes sold during this 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: $282,119
– One-year change: +13.4%

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: $1.4 million

Metros with lowest median sales price
#1. Saginaw, MI metro area: $115,975
#2. Cumberland, MD metro area: $119,850
#3. Bay City, MI metro area: $120,812

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Median sales price per square foot

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Median sales price per square foot: $147
– One-year change: +16.4%

Metros with highest median sales price per square foot
#1. San Francisco, CA metro area: $1,108
#2. San Jose, CA metro area: $953
#3. Kahului, HI metro area: $938

Metros with lowest median sales price per square foot
#1. Cumberland, MD metro area: $78
#2. Bay City, MI metro area: $83
#3. Macon, GA metro area: $88

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Sales to list price ratio

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Average sales to list price ratio: 1.02
– One-year change: +0.02

Metros with highest sales to list price ratio
#1. San Jose, CA metro area: 1.15
#2. Oakland, CA metro area: 1.14
#3. San Francisco, CA metro area: 1.13

Metros with lowest sales to list price ratio
#1. Cumberland, MD metro area: 0.96
#2. Macon, GA metro area: 0.97
#3. Utica, NY metro area: 0.97

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Homes sold with price drops

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Homes sold with price drops: 13.7%
– One-year change: +0.7%

Metros with most homes sold with price drops
#1. Cumberland, MD metro area: 35.3%
#2. New York, NY metro area: 31.9%
#3. Saginaw, MI metro area: 31.9%

Metros with least homes sold with price drop
#1. Crestview, FL metro area: 0.1%
#2. San Jose, CA metro area: 3.1%
#3. Seattle, WA metro area: 3.2%

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Off market in two weeks

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Off market in two weeks: 14.6%
– One-year change: -7.5%

Metros with the most homes off market in two weeks
#1. Seattle, WA metro area: 91.3%
#2. Olympia, WA metro area: 89.8%
#3. Rochester, NY metro area: 88.9%

Metros with the least homes off market in two weeks
#1. Cleveland, TN metro area: 3.1%
#2. Appleton, WI metro area: 4.5%
#3. Urban Honolulu, HI metro area: 4.9%

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Months of supply

Birmingham, AL metro area:
– Months of supply: 7.8 months
– One-year change: -2.2 months

Metros with the most months of supply
#1. Atlantic City, NJ metro area: 19.2 months
#2. New York, NY metro area: 18.6 months
#3. Glens Falls, NY metro area: 16.8 months

Metros with least months of supply
#1. Portland, ME metro area: 2.8 months
#2. Olympia, WA metro area: 2.8 months
#3. Seattle, WA metro area: 3.1 months

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