Bright MLS has officially published the results from its December 2024 Housing Report, which reveals that home sales activity surged across most of the Bright MLS service area in the given month.
Going by the available details, transactions are still low by historic standards, but having said so, the number of closed sales was found to be much higher than during December 2023. Furthermore, closed sales also increased by 4.2% from November. In December, the number of new pending contracts was also higher, with 2.1% more pending sales reported during the month, as compared to 2023.
Next up, Bright MLS’ report found that inventory was still relatively tight. This happened to be the case because only 11,531 new listings came onto the market during December. The stated number was around 2.1% lower than a year earlier. It also would be the slowest pace of listing activity in over 20 years.
If we take into account the numbers observed in 2024 as a whole, there was a total of 30,823 active listings available for sale. While this is an 11.7% increase over 2023, inventory is still far below pre-pandemic levels. As for why that might be the case, one component contributing towards that is rate lock, meaning current homeowners have a much lower mortgage rate than they could get on a new loan.
Now, with fewer options on the market, home prices naturally saw an uptick. In essence, the median sold price during December was $405,000. The stated gain translates to around 6.6%.
Fortunately enough, a separate survey by Bright MLS expects these inventory levels to improve in 2025. You see, the stated improvement is likely to stem from changing family and financial circumstances that will encourage more homeowners to sell their home, despite having to give up their super-low mortgage rate. More on the same would reveal how the group most likely to sell in 2025 is younger homeowners in their 30s and 40s, with the most common reasons for selling being family or job changes.
Apart from inventory, mortgage rates will also come down by a slight margin. However, current projections are for mortgage rates to remain well into the mid-6’s during the first part of the year.
“Buyers have re-anchored their expectations and have come to terms with the new normal for rates,” said Dr. Lisa Sturtevant, Bright MLS Chief Economist. “Over the past year, rates have been above 7%, and even close to 8%, so buyers now think a rate in the mid-6’s is pretty good.”
Taking an area-specific view of Bright MLS’ lowdown, we begin from Philadelphia, where metro area housing market ended the year with strong sales activity. In regards to numbers, the area saw a total of 5,110 sales in December, bringing a 9.0% increase over the year prior. Overall, 2024 sales across Philadelphia metro tracked 0.8% higher than 2023. Notably, the median sold price in the Philadelphia metro area was up 5.7% year-over-year during December, the slowest pace of home price appreciation since August 2023.
On top of that, Bright MLS reveals that the number of listings across the region, for the surveyed period, settled around a meager 3,485. This marks another low, for monthly new listings in more than 20 years.
Turning our attention towards Baltimore, it was able to surpass its 2023 sales on the back of a December spike. In December, there were 2,518 closed sales, a 12.3% increase over December 2023 sales. Overall, 2024 sales in the Baltimore region were 1.2% higher than 2023.
Here, the median sold price in December was $385,000, an 8.5% year-over-year gain. This gain was also its biggest increase since March 2024.
Another area covered by Bright MLS report was Washington D.C., which saw a total of 3,858 home sales during December. The stated number indicates a 25.9% surge over December 2023 sales. In 2024, total home sales in the region tracked 2.0% higher than 2023.
The median sold price, on its part, was $590,000, a 6.1% year-over-year gain. Among other things, we ought to mention that there were just 2,126 new listings, 4.1% lower than the prior December
