Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
April saw the median list price for homes in the U.S. reach a new record high of $310,000, according to realtor.com’s latest housing trend report. It says that listing prices continue to rise even as housing inventories across the nation are growing.
“The U.S. median listing price set another record this month, which we expect it to continue to do through summer when prices typically hit their seasonal peak,” said Danielle Hale, realtor.com’s chief economist. “Despite growing availability of total homes for sale, prices are rising in response to more high-end homes for sale, which is not exactly what most shoppers in today’s market are looking for. Inventory remains limited at the entry level, where much of housing’s demand is concentrated. This mismatch is a prime driver of the weaker sales we’ve seen so far in 2019.”
Indeed, it could be said that the price growth figures are skewed somewhat as it’s largely being driven by higher-end listings, the data shows. For example, the number of homes for sale valued at over $750,000 increased by 11% in April compared to the same month a year ago. The number of homes priced under $200,000 meanwhile, fell by 8%.
What that means is that entry-level shoppers will face “tough competition” this spring, realtor.com said.
Milwaukee, Kansas City and Rochester saw the highest gains, with median listing prices rising 13%, 12% and 12% respectively.
However, red hot markets such as San Jose (down 8%), San Francisco (down 4%) and Dalls (down 3%) all saw median list prices fall.
Overall, there are around 60,000 more listings in the U.S. now than there were 12 months ago, realtor.com said.
