Homeowners are facing record supply shortages as they head into 2022, according to a new Redfin report. And despite the record low number of homes for sale, prices and pending sales continue to rise. 

Fewer homes are for sale than ever before as we enter 2022 with active listings falling 27% from last year and newly-listed homes for sale dropping 10%. 

Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather said buyers who are continuing to search for homes into the new year are as eager as ever and that Redfin will be closely watching to see if prices climb in January as they usually do or if they will start high and then stagnate. The company is also keeping an eye on new listings. Time will tell. 

“I’ve already been hearing from Redfin agents in extremely supply-constrained markets like Austin that they are getting more interest than usual from homeowners about selling early this year,” he said. “A lot of these people spent the last couple months getting their homes spruced up and ready to list. This gives me hope that more sellers will be motivated to take action now that the new year has arrived.”

During the four weeks ended Jan. 2, the median home sale price rose 14% from the previous year to $358,460, just shy of an all-time high, while the median asking price of newly listed homes jumped 12% from last year to $341,200. Pending home sales rose 3.5% year over year. 

New listings were down 10% from last year, and active listings fell 27% year over year, dropping below $500,000 to an all-time low of $482,000. 

Redfin said 40% of all homes went under contract with an accepted offer within the first two weeks of being listed, up from 35% a year prior. Additionally, 29% of homes that went under contract had an offer accepted within one week of going on the market, up 25% from the same time last year. 

Additionally, the report noted a 4% week-over-week decrease in mortgage applications during the week ended Dec. 31, and 30-year mortgage rates rose to 3.11% for the week ended Dec. 30.