Metropolitan area median home prices
continued to rise in the first quarter, with the national gain showing
the best year-over-year performance in more than seven years, according
to the latest quarterly report by the National Association of REALTORS®.
At the end of the first quarter there were 1.93 million existing
homes available for sale, which is 16.8 percent below the close of the
first quarter of 2012, when 2.32 million homes were on the market.
The national median existing single-family home price was $176,600 in
the first quarter, up 11.3 percent from $158,600 in the first quarter
of 2012. This is the strongest year-over-year price increase since the
fourth quarter of 2005 when the median price jumped 13.6 percent.
“Some of the previously hard-hit markets like Phoenix, Sacramento and
Miami continue to experience a dramatic turnaround, while a new set of
areas like Atlanta, Minneapolis and Seattle have begun to show strong
signs of upward momentum,”
According to Freddie Mac, the national commitment rate on a 30-year
conventional fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.50 percent in the first
quarter, up from a record low 3.36 percent in the fourth quarter; it was
3.92 percent in the first quarter of 2012.
In the condo sector, metro area condominium and cooperative prices –
covering changes in 54 metro areas – showed the national median
existing-condo price was $172,400 in the first quarter, up 10.4 percent
from the first quarter of 2012. Thirty-nine metros showed increases in
their median condo price from a year ago and 15 areas had declines.
Source: NAR