Realtor.com® on Wednesday afternoon said the U.S. median listing price jumped 8% year-over-year to $280,000 last month, beating last July’s highpoint of $275,000.
Days on market dropped 7% compared to last year to 63 days and total listings dropped 8%. Realtor.com® receives its for-sale data directly from 99% of all U.S. MLSs and updates 90% of it every 15 minutes.
“Our latest inventory data tells us buyers are out in full force this spring,” said Javier Vivas, director of economic research for realtor.com®. “Never in history have there been more eyes on fewer homes than today. At the end of March, we observed price gains that put us on pace for half of the homes listed this summer to be above $300,000. Buyers are not just paying more for the same home; the mix of homes in the market is rapidly changing.”
The injection of new listings above $350,000 remains healthy, but inventory between $200,000 and $350,000 remains anemic and non-existent under $200,000. This bodes well for buyers in the upper and luxury tiers, but paints a darker picture for the entry-level market. If the pattern holds, one in 12 listings nationally will be listed above $1,000,000 this summer, while only one in three will be listed under the $200,000 – the sweet spot targeted by nearly half of all buyers. In February, above $1,000,000 homes made up only one in every 40 home sales.
March housing trends show the inventory depletion we’ve seen over the last two buying seasons is carrying over to this year. It’s going to be a languid search for buyers this season as they face the harshest, most competitive buying conditions yet. While days on market and total listings are decreasing at a slower rate than before, 36 of the largest 100 markets in the country are still seeing inventory move at least a week faster than this time last year. This includes cold weather markets that are thawing faster than expected and quickly catching up to the rest of the country.”
