Due in part to widely documented inventory shortages, about a third of the nation’s homes reached all-time price peaks in 2015, RealtyTrac said in its October 2015 U.S. Home Sales Report.
According to the 94 major metro areas the housing data provider analyzed for the report, 33 markets, or 35 percent, experienced price increase this year, and nearly 90 percent of markets posted an annual increase in home prices in October.
Leading the list of metro areas that reached new home price peaks this year was Detroit, which hit a new peak in October with a median sales price of $155,000.
Detroit’s success was followed by Dallas; Houston; Atlanta; St. Louis; Denver; Pittsburgh; Charlotte, North Carolina; Portland, Oregon; San Antonio, Texas; and Columbus, Ohio.
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Median sales prices of single-family homes and condominiums also got a boost in October, rising 1 percent from September to $207,500, and 10 percent year over year — marking the highest year-over-year percentage increase since February 2014, RealtyTrac said.
And more good news, according to RealtyTrac’s report: Nearly 2.9 million single-family homes and condos sold in the first 10 months of the year, marking a nine-year high for that period.
“Home price appreciation did not go into hibernation in October even as the housing market entered the typically slower fall season,” said Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac’s vice president. “Home sellers are sitting pretty in this market, realizing an average profit-since-purchase of 16 percent — the highest in any month since December 2007, on the cusp of the Great Recession.”
However, despite nearly four years of increases, the U.S. median sales price in October was still 9 percent below the previous peak of $228,000 in July 2005, RealtyTrac noted.
