A stark increase in buyer activity pushed the Redfin Housing Demand Index to 124 in December, the highest reading since January 2013.
The index, which is based on home tour requests and written offers made by thousands of Redfin customers, increased 15.1 percent from the month before. Buyer demand as a whole was up 26.3 last month from December 2015.
Redfin also tracks buyer demand in the nation’s largest markets. Denver (151), Boston (141), Baltimore (136), and Chicago (131) were among the cities with strong index readings, while demand was lower in San Francisco (102) and Portland, Ore. (87). Oakland had an index of 116, which is above average but still 50 points lower than the previous month. For the index, a level of 100 is the historical average for the three-year period from January 2013 to December 2015.
Orange County, Calif., had the highest index by far at 208, up 91.6 percent from the previous year.
The number of buyers requesting tours was up 124.3 percent compared to last year, while 28.0 percent more buyers were writing offers. “Part of what’s driving this surge in demand is the increasingly astronomical cost of renting in the area. Many renters are frustrated with how much they’re giving their landlord and would rather own, so they’re in the market,” said Redfin real estate agent Keith Thomas, Jr.
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