Demand is rising as mortgage rates fall from their April high

Pending home sales rose 2.7 percent year over year, and new listings rose for the second week in a row during the four weeks ended April 26, as the market moved closer to balanced conditions. according to Redfin.

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Months supply was 4.2, just below the four-to-five month range that Redfin considers balanced. The average number of days on market was 44, an increase of four days year-over-year, giving buyers more time to make decisions. The sales-price ratio fell to 98.7 percent and 25.6 percent of homes were sold above list price, compared to 26 percent.

The gap between what sellers are asking and what buyers are paying is widening: The median asking price was $427,245, up 2 percent year-over-year, while the median sales price was $396,000, up 2.4 percent, a difference of more than $31,000.

The softening corresponds to separate Redfin data It shows that house prices rose by just 1.7 percent year-on-year in March, the slowest growth rate on record, the brokerage said. Prices fell month over month in 13 major metro areas, with the steepest declines in Texas.

Contract cancellations contribute to the picture: 13.4 percent of home sales agreements that went into contract in March were canceled, according to Redfin. Cancellations were most common in San Antonio, Texas, and Orlando, Florida, and least common in Nassau County, New York; Montgomery County, PA; and Milwaukee.

The weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 6.23 percent in the week ending April 23, down from a six-month high of 6.46 percent reached in early April, Freddie Mac said. According to Mortgage News Daily, the daily average on April 29 was 6.45 percent.

At the metro level, Cleveland and Detroit led the price increases, each up 11.3 percent year-over-year. Seattle recorded the steepest decline at 3.6 percent. In total, prices fell in 16 metropolises.

E-mail Jessi Healey