September Listings Averaged 16 Days on Market

Homes are flying off the shelves significantly faster than one year ago—even expensive listings. Zillow reports that the typical U.S. home sold within 16 days last month, a slight decrease from August’s 17 day average. In September 2019, typical homes sold within an average of 28 days and more expensive homes, priced $488,000 and up, sold within 47 days. More expensive homes are now taking the longest to sell, but those are still gone within 33 days. There are four cities where homes do not last a week on the market before being scooped, according to Zillow: Columbus, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Indianapolis.

And speedier sales were common essentially regardless of price. Nationwide, entry-level and mid-priced homes — those priced in the 20th-40th percentile and 40th-60th percentile of all homes, or between $186,000 and $344,000 — sold the fastest, at 14 and 16 days, respectively, down from 20 and 23 a year ago. The least-expensive U.S. homes, priced in the bottom 20% of all homes ($185,999 or less), typically took 18 days to sell, down from 23 a year ago.

Moving up the price ladder, homes priced between the 60th and 80th percentile ($344,001-$487,999) typically sold in 20 days, down from 30 a year ago. The most-expensive U.S. homes, ($488,000 and up), typically went under agreement in 33 days — 14 days faster than September 2019. It is common for the most-expensive homes to stay on the market longer: There are simply fewer buyers that can afford progressively more-expensive homes. But the spread in days on market between the most expensive homes and the least expensive homes is tightening, indicating broad demand throughout the market.

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