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Report: Home Prices Increased 5% in November Amid Decline in Inventory
U.S. home sale prices increased 5.2% year-over-year in November to a median of $311,600, according to a new report from technology-powered real estate brokerage Redfin.
The firm reports that the increase was the largest since July 2018, when home prices were up 5.6% from a year earlier.
Affordable metro areas saw the biggest home price gains in November. For the fifth month in a row, the nine metro areas with the biggest gains all had median sale prices below the national median, led in November by Camden, N.J. with a median price of $200,000, up 14.3% from last year. Other metros leading the way included Detroit ($140,000, 12.0% gain) and Bakersfield, CA ($249,999, 11.6% gain).
“Given that inventory is falling quickly, we’d expect to see even stronger price growth, especially when compared to last year’s soft market,” said Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist. “The fact that homes are selling faster indicates that there are buyers ready to pull the trigger and take advantage of low interest rates. If lack of inventory and high demand continues, buyers who take a wait-and-see approach could face less favorable conditions in the spring season, like bidding wars and faster price growth.”
Redfin also reported that for the second month in a row, just one of the 85 largest metro areas the firm tracks saw a year-over-year decline in the median sale price. That metro was San Jose, where home prices fell 1.1%.
Nationwide, home sales increased 3% year-over-year in November, the fourth consecutive month of increases, and were down less than 1% from October.
The supply of homes for sale fell 12.1% year-over-year, the largest decline since April 2013 and the fifth straight month of declines. There were fewer homes for sale last month than in any November since at least 2012, according to Redfin.
Only six of the 85 largest metros tracked by Redfin posted a year-over-year increase in inventory.
Compared to 2018, the largest declines in the number of homes for sale were in Salt Lake City (50.2% decline), Tacoma, WA. (42.6% decline) and San Diego (38.5% decline).
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