Redfin, the Seattle-based real estate company, says that the drought in listings that has affected the inventory of homes for sale marked its 21^st month in June.  This is driving prices up and marketing time down, with each setting new records during the month.  The typical home found a buyer in 36 days, a day less than the record set in May.  More than a quarter, of homes that sold, 26.6 percent, did so above their list price, driving the average sale-to-list price ratio to a record high of 95.5 percent.

Redfin's estimate of annual home prices increases is in line with that of other companies that track them; a 7.3 percent gain from the previous June, to a median of $298,000. This is the highest since the company began tracking it in 2010.  Their estimate of the month-over-month gain was wildly different than others however, up 3.5 percent since May. 

Despite what is clearly a lot of buyer demand, home sales were only up 1.9 percent from June 2016. The tight inventories are playing a role here as well.

Compared to June 2016, there were 10.7 percent fewer homes on the market, representing a 2.5-month supply at the current rate of sales, the lowest in Redfin's seven year's of records and the seventh straight month of double-digit declines.  San Jose and Seattle each had less than a one-month supply. Homes came on the market at about the same rate as a year earlier.

"This market is unlike any we've ever seen before," said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson. "Month after month, new records are set for the pace at which homes are going under contract. Demand continues to swell while supply troughs.  For buyers competing in this market, it's survival of the fittest. The strongest offers that are most likely to close quickly and smoothly rise to the top of the pile."

Among metropolitan areas there were three, Denver, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon, where the median time for a home to be on the market was one week.  Grand Rapids and Boston followed at eight and nine days respectively.

The three most competitive markets during June were in California.  In San Jose 73.7 percent of homes sold above list price. San Francisco followed at 70.6 percent and Oakland at 69.8 percent.

Prices rose fastest in Fort Lauderdale, up 15.6 percent; Nashville, with 14.0 percent appreciation, Seattle and Tacoma, up 13.5 percent and 12.2 percent respectively, and Deltona, Florida with a 12.1 percent increase.  Two metro areas, Greensboro, North Carolina and Tulsa had price declines, 1.2 percent and 0.3 percent respectively.

Home sales surged in Poughkeepsie, New York by 42.6 percent on an annual basis, dwarfing the second-place sales growth of 23.1 percent in Camden, New Jersey. Ten of 89 metros had annual increases in the double digits.  At the other extreme, sales fell decisively in two other upstate New York areas; down 26.9 percent in Buffalo, and 21.2 percent in neighboring Rochester.

Redfin's report on the current sales environment was written by Alina Ptaszynski.