Us buyer demand softens in may

Indeed, in May, the number of customers touring homes fell 3.0% from April, compared to a 2.2% loss between April and May in 2012.  Home offers decreased 2.1% from April to May, a slightly larger decline than last year's 1.1% drop.

During the last week of May, tours were down 0.9% week over week, compared to a 1.9% week-over-week increase during the same period last year.

Week-over-week offers in May declined 24.1%, compared to a 30.4% drop last year, the only metric in this report that improved. The double-digit drops are expected from week three to four in May because of lighter activity over Memorial Day Weekend.

“The fact that homebuyer demand decreased slightly in May, despite there being more homes to buy could be explained by... the slight uptick in mortgage rates, especially in the last week of the month, rising home prices, buyer fatigue in a seller's market, or the start of summer vacation, which causes many homebuyers to focus their attention elsewhere,” commented Redfin.

“In any case, this decline in activity points toward a slight softening of sales volumes in June and July.”