Home prices

Active listings fell in July on an annual basis, while median home prices also showed signs of a downward trend, according to new data from Realtor.com.

Values are very likely to dip in the metros considered among the most desirable during the pandemic.

Some have moved to appeal their property assessments, with counties in Maryland like Dorchester, Somerset and Garrett seeing the rate of homeowners petitioning home values jump 987%, 827% and 454%, respectively in 2023.

The mortgage industry may be largely in the dark about the process, which could save homeowners potentially thousands of dollars a year.

In the Pacific region and Mountain states recorded real estate value drops compared to last year, the Federal Housing Finance Agency found.

The bottom five metros have an average five-year median home value appreciation of 35.46%.

The top five metros have an average five-year median home value appreciation of 48.49%.

Contract closings declined 3.3% to a 4.16 million annualized pace, roughly in line with economists' forecasts, National Association of Realtors data showed Thursday.

The nearly 8% growth on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis is well above the historical average, according to the government-sponsored enterprise.

Ten Western states that benefited from a pandemic-driven boom reported value declines in May, CoreLogic said.

With new home listings down 25% since last year, bidding wars have become the norm, according to the brokerage.

Measures commonly used may not fully account for regional variations like those seen recently, a working paper by Federal Housing Finance Agency staff finds.

The latest quarterly increase in revenue comes as other reports show home values heading upward and affordability declining.

But the annual rate of change turned negative for the first time in 11 years, according to the Case-Shiller index.

The uptick occurred as conforming rates pulled back for the second week in a row, coming in below the jumbo average according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The property was previously shopped as the Romanov Estate in 2021 and marketed at $60 million in 2022 by Icon Global, but it wasn't officially listed.

Volume was lackluster on account of elevated rates and low inventory, Black Knight's report said.

Households saw an average annual decrease of $5,400 earlier this year, but recent price trends point to some of that value returning, according to a new CoreLogic report.

Government-backed activity, though, managed to grow, which helped to shrink purchase-loan sizes to their smallest in over two months, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

But scarce housing inventory has helped to bring home equity values back upward, offsetting some of the losses of late 2022.