Home prices pick up in 80% of US metro areas

By Michael Sasso | Bloomberg

Prices of existing homes rose in 80% of US metropolitan areas in the second quarter, as home values pick up pace after several months of weakness.

The figure is up from 71% that saw year-over-year increases in the first quarter, National Association of Realtors data released Tuesday showed. By region, the Northeast — where the supply of homes has been tighter than some other areas — saw the biggest price gain, with the median for an existing single-family home rising 3.8% over the year to $547,200.

The median price in the Midwest was up 3.6%, while in the South, which saw inventories rise more significantly, it climbed 1%. The West was down 0.8%.

Nationwide, prices in the previously owned home market had been subdued throughout winter and spring, with values rising well under 1% on a year-over-year basis because of weaker demand and high mortgage rates. However, they’ve been creeping up more recently, up 1.5% in the second quarter from a year earlier, compared with 0.5% in the first quarter.

The recent rise is still well short of the blistering price inflation of the pandemic era, which saw double-digit increases throughout 2021 and parts of 2020 and 2022.

Among markets considered large by NAR, the Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas, area posted an 11% surge in the second quarter, while Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Florida, clocked in at 10.5%.

California dominated among most-expensive metro areas, with the median sales price of an existing single-family home in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara at $2.05 million — although that was down 4.2%. Prices in the second most-expensive area, San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, rose 5.2% to $1.5 million, NAR data showed.