In the most competitive housing market in U.S. history, sales are beginning to stall.
Home transactions fell 1.2 percent in June from May, the largest drop for the month in records going back to 2012, according to seasonally adjusted data from Redfin Corp. The inventory reached an all-time low, with buyers scooping up properties in 14 days, the fastest pace ever.
Remote work combined with rock-bottom mortgage rates unleashed a stampede of buyers to the suburbs and affordable cities across the U.S. The median home price in June jumped 25 percent from a year earlier to a record $386,888.
“We entered a new phase of the housing market,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said in a statement. “Prices have increased beyond what many buyers can afford.”
Values rose from a year earlier in all of the 85 metro areas Redfin tracks. The biggest jump was in Austin, Texas, at 43 percent. Following were Lake County, Illinois, with a 31 percent gain, and Phoenix, at 30 percent.
San Francisco, one of the country’s most expensive markets, had the smallest increase, at 2.6 percent.
