Home Prices Are Steady, Market Remains Highly Competitive

Since April 2019, median home prices have increased steadily and not even a pandemic ended the streak. The pandemic has put a damper on the rate of growth though, Zillow reports. With the medium price of U.S. homes selling at $263,408 for the month of May, the 4.6% year-over-year change is lower than April’s, making May the second consecutive month to see slower growth. Potential buyers looking to snag a deal may want to change mindsets, as sellers have been firm on prices and the market remains highly competitive.

Annual growth in median sale price was slower in May than in April in 31 of the nation’s 50 largest metros, though the deceleration was generally small. The biggest slowdown was in Providence, down 2 percentage points in May from April (from almost 9.2% to just slightly more than 7.1%). San Jose was at the opposite end — annual growth in the heart of Silicon Valley was 2.1 percentage points faster in May than in April (to 5.3% from 3.2%).

The data make clear that despite the nationwide shockwaves generated by the coronavirus pandemic, home prices haven’t been hit to the same degree as other sectors of the economy — at least for now. And because closed sales obviously lag active listings, we can expect sales prices to reflect the relative stability and growth of median list prices that we’ve seen over the past few months. Sale prices increased year-over-year in May in all 50 of the nation’s largest metros.

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