RealtyTrac, a source for comprehensive housing data, released its Year-End 2015 U.S. Home Sales Report, which shows that U.S. home sellers in 2015 realized an average price gain since purchase of 11 percent ($20,378), the biggest average price gain for U.S. home sellers since 2007.
The 11 percent average price gain in 2015 marked the second consecutive year where U.S. home sellers realized an average price gain, following six consecutive years where U.S. home sellers realized average price losses.
“With some local market exceptions, the 2015 home sales data paints the picture of a properly functioning U.S. housing market, where homeowners can once again count on real estate as an appreciating asset — a long-touted axiom soundly debunked as ironclad truth between 2008 and 2013,” RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist said in a news release. “This return to consistent home price gains for sellers should reinforce confidence in real estate in 2016 and produce another year of solid sales volume as homeowners cash out their equity gains.”
Among 155 U.S. counties analyzed for the report, those where 2015 home sellers realized the highest average price gains were San Mateo County, Calif., in the San Francisco metro area (65 percent average home price gains for 2015 home sellers); Alameda County, Calif., in the San Francisco metro area (64 percent average gain); Santa Clara County, Calif., in the San Jose metro area (63 percent average gain); Middlesex County, N.J., in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area (52 percent average gain); and Multnomah County, Ore., in the Portland metro area (49 percent average gain).
Home sellers in 2015 realized average home price losses since purchase in 19 of the 155 counties analyzed (12 percent), led by Mobile County, Ala., in the Mobile metro area (16 percent average home price loss for 2015 home sellers); Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in the Cleveland metro area (13 percent average loss); Baltimore City County, Md. in the Baltimore metro area (13 percent average loss); Burlington County, N.J., in the Philadelphia metro area (12 percent average loss); and Montgomery County, Ohio, in the Dayton metro area (9 percent average loss).
The U.S. median home price at the end of 2015 was $206,500, up 10 percent from a year ago. December was the 46th consecutive month with a year-over-year increase in the U.S. median home price.
Among 87 major metropolitan statistical areas analyzed for the report, 79 (91 percent) posted a year-over-year increase in median home price at the end of 2015.
Among the nation’s 46 markets with a population of at least 1 million, those with the biggest year-over-year increase in home prices were St. Louis (19 percent increase); Raleigh, N.C. (17 percent increase); Detroit (17 percent increase); and Tampa, Fla. (15 percent increase); with Denver, Seattle, San Jose, Calif., and Providence, R.I., all posting increases of 13 percent.