Median home prices in more than half of the country’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) moved above their pre-recession home price peaks during this year’s first quarter, according to ATTOM Data Solutions.
ATTOM’s Q1 2018 U.S. Home Sales Report found that the median home price of $240,000 during the first quarter of 2018 was less than 1 percent below its pre-recession peak of $241,500 in the third quarter of 2005, but still up 9.1 percent from a year ago.
“Rising interest rates and recently enacted tax reform that removed some tax incentives for homeownership were not enough to cool off red-hot home price appreciation in many parts of the country, with 30 of the 105 local markets analyzed posting double-digit gains in median home prices in the first quarter,” ATTOM Senior Vice President Daren Blomquist said in a release.
“Home prices are still below pre-recession peaks in 46 percent of local markets, but nearly one-third of even those markets posted double-digit home price appreciation in the first quarter,” Blomquist added.
ATTOM identified the MSAs where median home prices were furthest above their pre-recession peaks during the first quarter as Houston, Texas (69 percent above); Dallas-Fort Worth (67 percent above); Denver (62 percent above); San Jose (60 percent above); and San Antonio (57 percent above).
Other MSAs where first-quarter median home prices were at least 30 percent above pre-recession peaks were Nashville (46 percent above); Austin, Texas (45 percent above); Salt Lake City (42 percent above); Raleigh, N.C. (35 percent above); Indianapolis (31 percent above); and Oklahoma City (30 percent above).
The report found that first-quarter median home prices were still below their pre-recession peaks in Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn. (25 percent below); New Haven, Conn. (22 percent below); Allentown, Pa. (21 percent below); Philadelphia (20 percent below); and Hartford, Conn. (19 percent below).
The MSAs posting the biggest annual home price increases during the first quarter were San Jose (up 33 percent); Flint, Mich. (up 20 percent); Spokane, Wash. (up 18 percent); Reno (up 17 percent); and Seattle (up 16 percent), ATTOM found.
ATTOM said U.S. homeowners who sold during the first quarter of 2018 had been in their homes an average of 8 years, down 2 percent from 8.14 years in fourth quarter of 2017.
Additionally, U.S. homeowners who sold in the first quarter realized an average home price gain since purchase of $53,369, down from an average gain of $54,000 in fourth quarter of 2017 but still up from an average gain of $45,000 the first quarter of 2017.
The highest average returns during the first quarter were in San Jose (109.1 percent); San Francisco (73.6 percent); Seattle (66.0 percent); Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, Hawaii (65.3 percent); and Vallejo-Fairfield, Calif. (58.8 percent).