Des Moines' real estate market is shifting, slightly

With pending home sales down about 7% year over year, Des Moines' real estate market is showing early signs of slowing down. But home prices are still up 12% from May 2021.

Driving the news: We keep hearing about a market crash, but so far, local data don't support that claim.

Yes, but: Monthly data show early signs of a cooler market, even if it's slight.

What's happening: From May 2021 to May 2022, new listings were down 5.2%.

• More buyers are holding off as home ownership becomes too expensive.
• This comes after mortgage rates surpassed 5% for the first time in 10 years.
• Fewer homes sold for over the asking price. There was a 6.8 percentage point decrease in homes sold at a premium this June compared to last year, according to Redfin.

Zoom out: Nationally, mortgage applications were down 24%, and, on average, 6.5% of sellers dropped their asking price each week in June, per Redfin's latest market update.

• In June, national pending home sales were down 13% from this time last year, the largest decline since May 2020, Redfin's report stated.

Be smart: Inventory is still critically low overall, which continues to push home prices up.

What we're watching: New listings and pending sales. If more listings flood the market this summer and buyers don't bite, that's when we would start to see more power shift into buyers' hands.

Bottom line: We're not seeing major changes in Des Moines just yet, but we're starting to see early signs of a cooling market.