seasonallyadjusted home sales were down 6 yearoveryear in august according to new data released by redfin corp nasdaq rdfn marking the first annual decline in home sales since may 2020 home sales were also down 14 from july what happened home sales recorded a yearoveryear decline last month in 44 of the 85 largest metro areas tracked by redfin most notably in new orleans 23 salt lake city 16 and warren michigan 14 for the markets that saw yearoveryear sales increases the greatest gains in august were found in new york city 65 honolulu 47 and nassau county new york 32 seasonally adjusted active listings were down 19 yearoveryear in august the smallest decline since april while seasonally adjusted new listings of homes for sale were down 6 the first decline since february and while august’s 380271 median home sale price in august was 16 higher from one year earlier it was also the lowest growth rate since february what else happened while home sales were in decline tenants in rental units found themselves paying more for their housing realtorcom reported the median rental price reached a new high of 1633 in august up 115 from one year earlier and the first doubledigit annual growth in two years annual rent growth has also tripled since the onset of the pandemic march 2020 32 all unit sizes tracked by realtorcom recorded new rental price highs in august twobedrooms at 1828 onebedrooms at 1524 and studios at 1338 rents posted doubledigit gains over last year in more than half of the 50 largest metros led by tampa 306 riverside california 286 miami 27 and phoenix 255 “put simply august trends suggest rents are making up for lost time” said realtorcom chief economist danielle hale “rents remained low during some of the worst months of the pandemic growing at a sub2 pace from september 2020 to march 2021 which is also when forsale home prices were growing by doubledigits “now weve reached a stage in the covid recovery where people are ready to move and were seeing urgency to find new living spaces immediately” she added “a lot of this demand can be attributed to vaccines opening up offices and citylife young adults feeling more confident to strike out on their own and homebuyers needing to take a break from the redhot housing market and many are willing to pay top dollar to make that happen quickly which may lead to even more growth in rents over the next few months” realtorcom is operated by move inc a subsidiary of news corp nasdaq nwsa