U.S. home-sale prices increased 6.7 percent year-over-year in January to a median of $306,400, according to a new report from Redfin.
Redfin said home prices increased 0.7 percent month-over-month on a seasonally-adjusted basis.
“Typically, we don’t see this many buyers in January, but with mortgage rates at a three-year low, there are plenty of early birds hoping to secure a home and lock in an affordable mortgage payment,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said in a release.
“Home sellers, on the other hand, see that the market is clearly heating up and have no reason to rush to list their homes or to make price cuts in order to secure a sale,” Fairweather said. “Back in December, it wasn’t clear if demand would pick up in the new year, so some sellers were willing to accept lower prices, which borrowed some demand from January and resulted in the slight dip in sales we’re seeing now.”
The report identified the metro areas with the largest year-over-year price increases in January as Memphis, Tenn. (median price $182,900, up 17.1 percent); Dayton, Ohio ($132,000, +14.8 percent); and Rochester, N.Y. ($148,500, +13.3 percent).
“Every home is getting multiple offers, often going for substantially above the asking price,” San Fernando Valley Redfin agent Robert Iles said. “One offer I recently submitted for a client faced competition from 23 other offers, and that was when the seller’s counteroffer included the term requiring our offer to be no less than $100,000 above the list price.”
Redfin said only three metropolitan areas saw a year-over-year decline in the median sale price in January. They were San Jose, Calif. (-4.3 percent); Baton Rouge, La. (-4.1 percent); and Greenville, S.C. (-1.4 percent).
The markets with the biggest increases in home sales in January from a year ago were North Port, Fla. (29.9 percent); Las Vegas (23.8 percent); and Anaheim, Calif. (23.2 percent).