RealtyTrac released its March and Q1 2016 U.S. Home Sales report, which shows that U.S. home sellers in March on average sold for $30,500 more than they purchased it for, a 17 percent average gain in price — the highest average price gain for home sellers in any month since December 2007 at the onset of the Great Recession.
The RealtyTrac Home Sales report is based on publicly recorded sales deeds collected and licensed by RealtyTrac in more than 900 counties nationwide accounting for more than 80 percent of the U.S. population.
Among 125 metropolitan statistical areas with at least 300 sales in March, home sellers realized the biggest average gains compared with purchase price in San Francisco (72 percent average gain); San Jose, Calif. (60 percent); Boulder, Colo. (53 percent); Prescott, Ariz. (51 percent); and Los Angeles (48 percent).
“Home sellers in many markets are now seeing average price gains close to or above what home sellers experienced during the last housing boom,” RealtyTrac Senior Vice President Daren Blomquist said in a news release. “That should encourage more homeowners to take advantage of the prime seller’s market and list their homes for sale this year. Banks are already taking advantage of that market, as evidenced by the uptick in the distressed sales share over the last two quarters.
“Given that bank-owned homes are selling at a median price that is 40 percent below the overall median sales price nationwide, the uptick in distressed sales, combined with affordability constraints, are contributing to faltering home price appreciation in some markets — most notably the bellwether markets of Washington, D.C. and San Francisco,” Blomquist continued.
Other markets with average seller gains more than twice the national average in March were Denver (42 percent); Portland (40 percent); Austin, Texas (40 percent); Seattle (38 percent); Baltimore (38 percent); Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif. (37 percent); San Diego (36 percent); and Sacramento (35 percent).
The median sales price of single-family homes and condos in March was $210,000, up 9 percent from the previous month and up 11 percent from a year ago. March was the 49th consecutive month with a year-over-year increase in the U.S. median home price, which is still 8 percent below its previous peak of $228,000 in July 2005.
Among metro areas analyzed in the report, 36 percent have reached new all-time home price peaks since January 2015, including seven markets that reached new price peaks in March 2016: Boulder, Colo.; Denver; Portland; Fort Collins, Colo.; Austin, Texas; Greeley, Colo.; and Cincinnati.
All-cash sales represented 31.8 percent of all U.S. single family and condo sales in the first quarter, down from 32.8 percent in the previous quarter and down from 35.4 percent a year ago — the 12th consecutive quarter with an annual decrease.
Buyers using loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) — typically first-time buyers or boomerang buyers with a low downpayment — accounted for 15.2 percent of all single family and condo sales in the first quarter, up from 14.8 percent in the previous quarter and up from 13.5 percent a year ago.