The shortage of homes for sale is one of the main reasons why metropolitan area median home prices continued to rise in 1Q13, with
“The supply/demand balance is clearly tilted toward sellers in a good portion of the country,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said. “Inventory conditions are expected to remain fairly constrained this year, so overall price increases should be well above the historic gain of one to two percentage points above the rate of inflation. If homebuilders can continue to ramp up production, then
The median existing single-family home price rose in 133 out of 150 metropolitan statistical areasbased on 1Q13 closings over 1Q12. In 4Q12, prices in 133 MSAs were up over 4Q11, while in 1Q12 only 74 MSAs had higher prices than in 1Q11.
Julie Zisfein of Auction.com Research commented, "The housing recovery is on its way, and seems to be picking up speed given this morning’s release. National home prices are now 13.4% off their 2011 trough, but it is important to note they are still 18% off their 2005 peak.
“While we expect the single-family housing recovery to continue trudging along, the still-dropping homeownership rate and hot multifamily market suggest that the shift from ownership to rental is not quite over.”
The national median existing single-family home price was $176,600 up 11.3% over 1Q12. This is the strongest year-over-year price increase since the fourth quarter of 2005 when the median price jumped 13.6%.
“Some of the previously hard-hit markets like Phoenix, Sacramento and Miami continue to experience a dramatic turnaround, while a new set of areas like Atlanta, Minneapolis and Seattle have begun to show strong signs of upward momentum,” Yun said.
Distressed homes—defined as foreclosures and short sales generally sold at discounts of up to 20%—accounted for 23% of first-quarter sales, down from 32% a year ago.
