Home prices, sales remain ahead of last year

Nationwide home sales gained 2.5% in October, keeping prices above last year according to a report from RE/MAX

Home prices, sales remain ahead of last year
Nationwide home sales gained 2.5% in October, keeping prices above last year according to a report from RE/MAX.

There were increased sales in 37 of 53 metros compared to October 2016 while inventory was at the lowest point in the nine-year history of the real estate broker network’s National Housing Report with just 3.3 months of supply. Sales were down 3.4% from September 2017.

The median price of a home in the US was up 3.3% year-over-year but down 1.1% month-over-month to $224,000 which is on par with the start of the peak selling season last spring.

"The housing market is steady and at least somewhat predictable with record-low inventory and increasing prices in markets across the country," said Adam Contos, RE/MAX Co-CEO. "With job growth and increased household formation, buyers will struggle and may even be priced out of the market until home building catches up."

The largest increases in median price were in Las Vegas (16.3%), Birmingham (12.3%), New Orleans (12.3%), Des Moines (12.0%) and Seattle (11.6%).

Two metros posted a decline in median price last month compared to a year earlier: Wilmington/Dover, DE (down 4.1%) and Trenton, NJ (down 1.0%); while Cincinnati was unchanged.

San Francisco, Denver and Seattle led the markets with the tightest inventories with 1, 1.3 and 1.8 months of supply respectively. Meanwhile, buyers enjoyed the greatest choice of homes in Miami, Birmingham and Augusta with 7.3, 6.8 and 6.5 months’ supply respectively.