Home-Prices Growth Continues, but Is SlowingBy Claudia Larsen
While home prices continued to grow in May, the growth slowed to the lowest rate on record since 2016, according to a new report from Realtor.com.
Realtor.com’s Monthly Housing Trends Report for May found that the median listing price grew by 0.9% to $440,000, up 38% from 2019. Active listings were up 21.5%, but down 50.7% from 2019. New listings fell 22.7%, and 30.4% from 2019. Median days on the market rose by 14 days to 43, down 9 days from 2019. The share of active listings with price reductions grew 2.6 percentage points to 12.7%, down 2.6 percentage points from 2019. Key highlights:
“April and May are historically popular months to buy, and typically by this time in the year we’ve exceeded the prior year's peak home price. Weakening home price growth for the past 12 months is increasing the odds that we may not see a new home price peak this year, for the first time in the history of our listing data, which dates back to mid-2016, and this is likely welcome news to homeshoppers,” said Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale. “Despite stalling price growth, home listing prices are up slightly compared to last May, and with rates more than a percentage point higher than a year ago, buyers continue to face affordability headwinds. The good news for sellers is that buyers are still out there, and this month's slower growth in the active inventory of homes for sale indicates that shoppers are in the market and actively searching for homes that fit their needs and budget.” Realtor.com® Executive News Editor Clare Trapasso added, “As buyers’ budgets are being stretched to the max, there are opportunities for negotiation, especially on homes that have been sitting on the market for a while. They can ask sellers to come down on the price, make costly repairs, as well as contribute to their closing costs or buy down their mortgage rates. If they’re purchasing new construction, they can also request upgrades. This can add up to substantial savings.” For the full report, including more in-depth housing metrics on the 50 largest metros, visit https://www.realtor.com/. Claudia Larsen is an associate editor for RISMedia. |
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