Housing Activity Likely to Pick Up in the Fall: Redfin

It may not be a seller's market anymore, according to Redfin.

Redfin's July 2014 Housing Market Tracker report finds flat residential real estate price growth in all 35 markets included in the report for the first time in five months, and the biggest drop of the year in the number of homes sold at higher than listed prices, may help boost sales through the fall.

The shift started last November resulting in a 7% decline in the number of homes that sold above the list price in July from a year earlier, to 20.1%.

The combined effect of a slowdown in home price growth and a shift in pricing power from sellers to buyers is bound to bring about more balanced housing activity in the fall buying season, Redfin's chief economist Nela Richardson explained in a press release.

Redfin also expects "an unusual surge" in home sales this fall as prices continue to flatten and potentially decline month-over-month in September or October. The customer friendly real estate brokerage firm said that if a three-month price decline actually happens, it will be the first since fall 2012.

After Labor Day sellers will likely start to drop prices on listed residential property prices to attract "more value-focused buyers," leading to a surge in home sales and the strongest housing market activity in five years.

Redfin also reported that given the still low mortgage rates, a late start of the selling season this year and the slowdown in the overall pace of economic growth has resulted in "carryover homebuyer demand and supply" that will set the stage for a surge in sales over the next two months.

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