Homeowners who sold in the first quarter realized an average price gain of $57,500 (31.5 percent) since purchase, down from an average gain of $60,000 during last year’s fourth quarter, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ Q1 2019 U.S. Home Sales Report.
The report found that homeowners who sold in the first quarter had owned an average of 8.05 years, down slightly from a record-high average homeownership tenure of 8.17 years in the fourth quarter of 2018, but still up from 7.75 years from one year ago.
“We are starting to see homes sales prices and profit margins softening for the nation, and the average homeownership tenure did see a slight dip from last quarter,” ATTOM Chief Product Officer Todd Teta said in a release. “However, home prices are still above pre-recession peaks in 59 percent of local markets, and as the buying season starts to kick into gear, the next few months may provide even more answers to the question of whether a lasso is indeed around the market or if the recent trend is a temporary bump in the ride.”
According to the report, median home prices in 73 of the 123 metro areas analyzed were above pre-recession peaks in the first quarter, including Greeley, Colo. (79 percent above); Denver (68 percent above); Fort Collins, Colo. (67 percent above); Austin, Texas (62 percent above); and Dallas, (58 percent above).
Other major metro areas where median home prices were at least 40 percent above pre-recession peaks in the first quarter were Nashville, Tenn. (55 percent above); San Antonio (49 percent above); San Jose, Calif. (43 percent above); Houston (43 percent above); and Kansas City, Mo. (41 percent above).
The report found median home prices in 49 of the 123 metro areas analyzed were still below pre-recession peaks in the first quarter, including in York-Hanover, Pa. (56 percent below); Trenton, N.J. (35 percent below); Atlantic City (32 percent below); Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn. (28 percent below); and in New Haven, Conn. (22 percent below).
ATTOM said the highest average home seller returns in the first quarter were in San Jose, Calif, (84.1 percent); San Francisco (70.9 percent); Seattle (63.1 percent); Modesto, Calif. (59.7 percent); and Salt Lake City (56.5 percent).