Single-family homes and condos sold for a median price of $266,000 in the second quarter, up 10.8 percent from the previous quarter and up 6.4 percent from a year ago, reaching a new median home price peak, according to ATTOM Data Solutions.
ATTOM’s Q2 2019 U.S. Home Sales Report also found homeowners who sold in the second quarter had owned an average of 8.09 years, reaching a new peak, up 3 percent from last quarter and up 4 percent from one year earlier.
“As warmer weather brings a rush of house hunters to the market, the latest spike in median home prices marked the largest quarterly increase since the second quarter of 2015 and the third biggest increase since the market started climbing out of the Great Recession in 2012,” ATTOM Chief Product Officer Todd Teta said in a release.
“However, in looking at historical trends, the second quarter of every year has always shown a quarterly increase, going as far back as 2005,” Teta said. “So, with mortgage rates dipping to new lows, it’s no surprise that people were wanting to buy a home, even if prices were at their peak. We expect to see milder home prices in the coming quarters.”
According to the report, median home prices during the second quarter increased in 133 of the149 metropolitan areas. The largest increases occurred in Atlantic City, N.J. (16 percent); Boise City, Idaho (14 percent increase); Chattanooga, Tenn. (13.9 percent increase); Mobile, Ala. (11.2 percent increase); and Madison, Wis. (10.8 percent).
Median home prices during the second quarter pushed past pre-recession peaks in 110 of the 149 areas, including in Greeley, Colo. (87 percent above); Shreveport, La. (81 percent above); Denver (80 percent above); Austin, Texas (77 percent above); and Fort Collins, Colo. (76 percent above).
During the second quarter, homeowners who sold realized an average home price gain since purchase of $67,500, up from an average gain of $57,706 in the first quarter of 2019, and up from an average gain of $60,100 one year earlier, ATTOM found.