With median list prices up 44.3 percent in the third quarter from a year ago and inventory down 24.5 percent over the same period, Detroit, despite filing for bankruptcy in July, experienced the most significant housing recovery from July to September, according to realtor.com’s third-quarter “Turnaround Towns” report.
Detroit ranked No. 7 on realtor.com’s second-quarter report, which ranks metros by the changes in median list prices, inventory and median age of inventory in the realtor.com listings database. Thanks to realtor.com’s relationship with the National Association of Realtors, that database includes listings from more than 800 multiple listing services, representing 98 percent of all homes for sale.
Typically, markets that were hit especially hard during the housing crisis, like Detroit, Reno, Nev., and Las Vegas, have shown strong signs of recovery because they have so much ground to make up. But during the third quarter, relatively stable housing markets like Ann Arbor, Mich. (No. 5), Dallas (No. 6), Boston (No. 8) and Boulder, Colo. (No. 9), entered the list of top 10 of recovering metros.
As the overall market returns to normal, these more stable metros are starting to show up as leaders in the housing recovery, said realtor.com President Errol Samuelson.
“We’re noticing a clear split between markets that have experienced major highs and lows in recent years and those that have proved more resilient,” Samuelson said in a statement.
Nationally, median list prices were up 7.6 percent in the third quarter from a year ago to $199,128, with inventory down 3.3 percent to 1.96 million homes over the same period.
Realtor.com’s top 10 “Turnaround Towns” in the third quarter
|
Q3 2013 Rank |
Metro |
Q3 year-over-year median list price |
Q3 year-over-year median age of inventory |
Q3 year-over-year inventory |
|
1 |
Detroit, Mich. |
44.3% |
-33.9% |
-24.5% |
|
2 |
Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc, Calif. |
27.1% |
-36.3% |
-15.9% |
|
3 |
Reno, Nev. |
28.2% |
-30.4% |
-19.8% |
|
4 |
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. |
15.8% |
-35.0% |
-13.8% |
|
5 |
Ann Arbor, Mich. |
15.2% |
-28.8% |
-13.5% |
|
6 |
Dallas, Texas |
10.6% |
-31.9% |
-15.7% |
|
7 |
West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, Fla. |
17.4% |
-21.8% |
-20.7% |
|
8 |
Boston-Worcester-Lawrence-Lowell- |
9.5% |
-30.7% |
-22.1% |
|
9 |
Boulder-Longmont, Colo. |
12.5% |
-35.1% |
-18.1% |
|
10 |
Las Vegas, NV-AZ(NV) |
30.8% |
-23.5% |
-16.9%
|
Source: realtor.com
