OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City’s real estate market for the first week of October saw median listing prices increase by 7.8% over last year, while prices in the Tulsa market rose by 12.3%, according to the real estate website Realtor.com.
Total listings in the OKC market dropped by 39.4% from last year, while the number of homes for sale in the Tulsa market declined by 41.9%. OKC homes sold seven days faster than last year, and homes in the Tulsa market sold 11 days faster.
Realtor.com tracks the housing market’s overall strength through the website’s Housing Market Recovery Index, which compares key measures in several areas, according to a Realtor.com news release. Those areas include trends in the number of searches on Realtor.com, median listing prices, the number of newly listed homes and the time it takes to sell to January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The median house price in the U.S. stayed close to its summer peak of $350,000 in the first week of October and set a new record of 12.9% growth over last year, which is unusual for the fall, according to Realtor.com’s weekly housing report for the week ending Oct. 3. Realtor.com said the drop in the number of homes on the market improved slightly that week, which could be a sign that high prices are encouraging sellers to stay in the market.
“While buyers would normally begin to hunker down this time of year, we expect to see an unusually high number remain in the market this fall,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. “This gives sellers a rare opportunity to get top dollar for their home outside of the prime selling season, which may be motivating some to stay in the market.”
Despite record-breaking prices, sellers are not rushing into the market as eagerly as buyers, Hale said. She said it remains to be seen whether that trend will continue into the spring.