Several California metros and pandemic-era beneficiaries are cooling the fastest as rising mortgage rates are contributing to more cautious buyer activity, according to analysis by financial technology company SmartAsset. In an analysis of the 100 largest metros in the United States, SmartAsset found the housing market in Boise, Idaho, is cooling the fastest.
According to SmartAsset, Boise has the sixth-lowest ratio of number of sold houses to new listings (0.49) of metros analyzed, meaning almost twice as many houses are being listed relative to houses that are sold. In Boise, the median days a house sits on the market is 20, a 186% increase compared with 2021.
Austin, Texas, and Phoenix are the second- and third-fastest cooling metros, according to SmartAsset. Austin has experienced the fourth-largest decrease in demand and 13th-largest price reductions compared with a year ago and currently has an identical ratio of sold houses to new listings as Boise. Phoenix has the fifth-highest percentage of house listings with a price cut in the United States (39.61%), and the number of houses sold in a month has declined more than 41% between August 2021 and August 2022, according to SmartAsset.
Three California metros—San Jose, San Diego, and Stockton—rank in the top 10 for fastest-cooling metros. All three areas have seen over a 33% decrease in the number of houses sold monthly between August 2021 and August 2022. Additionally, each of the three metros rank in the top 15 for price cuts compared with a year ago.
Las Vegas; North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida; Salt Lake City; and Provo-Orem, Utah, round out the top 10 fastest-cooling metro markets, according to SmartAsset analysis.
Across all 100 metros analyzed, the share of listings with price cuts increased 10% on a year-over-year basis. Additionally, the number of metros with homes on the market for less than 10 days decreased 46.3% on a year-over-year basis (67 metros in August 2021 and 36 metros in August 2022).
To conduct the study, SmartAsset analyzed data on the 100 metros across eight metrics, split into two categories: price reduction and decreased demand. Each metro received a ranking for each metric, and the average ranking was used for final placement on the list. Data for all metrics was generated from Zillow for the months of August 2021 and August 2022.
