SEATTLE, Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Technology-powered real estate broker Redfin (www.redfin.com) today released its Real-Time Home Price Tracker for January 2013, showing home prices increasing 10 percent year over year across 19 major U.S. markets. Inventory continued its long decline, falling by more than a third from January 2012—the largest drop since the debut of price tracking in 2010. The report also showed:

Sales volumes on the rise:

• Sales volumes fell by 20% from December but were up 12% from 2012 levels- marking the strongest January in four years.

Home-selling velocity also increasing:

• The percentage of listings that sold within 14 days shot up from 26% in December to 30% in January reaching the highest point since the debut of tracking in 2010.

This report is the earliest monthly analysis of home prices, sales and inventory across 19 U.S. markets, published weeks before any other index, based on the local databases used directly by Realtors to list properties and record sales. Click the following link to read the complete Redfin Real-Time Home Price Tracker. http://blog.redfin.com/?p=11858

Market-Specific Highlights and Lowlights:

Sales Volumes

• Chicago saw the biggest gains, with home sales up 49.8% from January 2012.
• Sacramento's sales volumes took the hardest hit with a 31.5% drop from a year earlier.

Home Prices

• 17 of the 19 cities measured saw home prices rise year over year; eight saw month-over-month home price increases.
• Phoenix once again led the price gains with a 31% year-over-year increase.

Inventory

• Inventory fell to fewer than 157,000 total listings across the 19 metro areas studied.
• The top seven markets with the largest year-over-year drop in inventory were all in California: Sacramento (-70%), San Francisco (-63.7%), San Jose (-61.2%), Ventura (-60.3%), Los Angeles (-57.3%), Inland Empire (-54.7%) and San Diego (-52.4%).
• The market with the smallest year-over-year drop in inventory was Phoenix with 2.5% fewer homes for sale than last year.

Selling Velocity

• The top five fastest-selling markets (% of homes selling in two weeks or less) are all in California: San Jose (62.9%), San Francisco (54.6%), Ventura (47.4%), Los Angeles (45.7%), Inland Empire (43.2%), and San Diego (42.9%).
• The slowest-selling market is Boston, with only 4.2% of homes selling in 14 days or less.

About the Real-Time Home Price Tracker
As a broker with access to dozens of Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) used by real estate agents to list properties and record sales, Redfin gets data within minutes of a sale, pending sale or listing activation, well before any government, media or analytics organization. Using MLS fields, Redfin is able to distinguish houses from condominiums and townhouses, which often sell for less money. To validate the accuracy of the data and to account for sales not handled by a real estate agent, Redfin compares MLS data with county records as they become available, using sophisticated algorithms to identify and resolve disparities about square footage or price for each address. Data at the local and neighborhood level are available in a spreadsheet, and the report methodology is available as an Adobe document.

About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate broker that represents people buying and selling homes. Founded and run by technologists, Redfin, has a team of experienced, full-service real estate agents who are advocates, not sales-people, earning customer-satisfaction bonuses, not commissions. Redfin's online tools feature all the broker-listed homes for sale, as well as for-sale-by-owner properties that don't pay brokers a commission. The company serves 21 U.S. markets, and has closed more than $8 billion in home sales. In 2012, Redfin was named one of The DIGITAL 100: World's Most Valuable Private Tech Companies by Business Insider. Follow us on our blog (blog.redfin.com), Twitter (@redfin), and Facebook (Facebook.com/redfin).

SOURCE Redfin Corporation