Annual home price appreciation in February slowed, compared to a year ago, in 60 of the 92 metros of 500,000 or more population analyzed in a new report from RealtyTrac.
“While still significant at 33 percent, the average discount buyers are realizing on distressed homes has been
shrinking over the past 18 months after hitting a high of 40 percent in September 2013,” Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, said in the release.
“Inventory of distressed properties is drying up in many markets even while demand for those properties — which typically fall into the target market for both investors and first-time homebuyers — is ramping up.
“That is in turn resulting in nationwide home prices skewing higher as a smaller share of homes sell at the lower end of the market,” Blomquist said in the release.
The report also found that the U.S. median home price in February increased 14 percent from a year ago but was flat from the previous month to $183,000. The median sales price of distressed homes — those in the foreclosure process or bank-owned — increased 13 percent from a year ago to $127,000, 33 percent below the median sales price of non-distressed properties, $190,000.
“2014 was a historical year for the luxury market in the Lake Tahoe area,” Sue Lowe, Senior Vice President/Corporate Broker for Chase International, covering the Lake Tahoe and Reno, Nev. Markets, said in the release.
“We expect to see big things happen as the summer buying season begins in 2015,” Lowe said in the release.
Home price appreciation slows in 65 percent of metros
Among the nation’s largest metro areas, those with slowing home price appreciation included New York, New York (annual appreciation of 3 percent compared to 6 percent last year), Los Angeles, California (annual appreciation of 9 percent compared to 20 percent last year), Chicago, Illinois (annual appreciation of 6 percent compared to 16 percent last year), Washington DC (annual appreciation of 6 percent compared to 7 percent last year), and Miami, Florida (annual appreciation of 10 percent compared to 20 percent last year).
“Last year, Seattle home prices saw double digit increases, but as we predicted earlier this year, that pace has started to slow,” OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate, covering the Seattle market where annual price appreciation was 6 percent compared to 13 percent a year ago, said in the release. “We actually see this as a good thing because if home prices were to continue appreciating in the double digits for too long, we could run into the same boom/bust market of years past.”
Markets with slowing home price appreciation
“After the last flurry of distressed buying in the first half of 2013 we have seen a gradual move to a more normal real estate market – with real buyers and real sellers,” Mike Pappas, CEO and president of the Keyes Company, covering the South Florida market, where annual home price appreciation was 10 percent compared to 20 percent last year said in the release. “This translates to a healthy move toward historic single digit appreciation levels.”
17 metro areas reached new peaks in median home prices in 2014
The recovery has helped 17 metro areas (18 percent of total 92) reach new peaks in median home prices in 2014 including Denver, Colorado ($265,000), San Jose, California ($714,750), Chattanooga, Tennessee ($130,000), Madison, Wisconsin ($215,900) and Nashville, Tennessee ($175,000).
Markets that have the most gains since hitting the housing bottoms
Home price appreciation in February helped many markets that had hit their housing price bottom increase to new heights including Detroit, Michigan (up 154 percent), Grand Rapids, Michigan (up 118 percent), San Francisco, California (up 115 percent), Cape Coral, Florida (up 102 percent), San Jose, California (up 90 percent), Modesto, California (up 72 percent) and Los Angeles, California (up 70 percent).
Markets with accelerating home price appreciation
Home price appreciation accelerated in 32 of the 92 (35 percent) metro areas nationwide with a population of half a million or more and with sufficient home price data.
Markets with the fastest-accelerating appreciation included Houston, Texas (21 percent annual appreciation this year compared to 5 percent annual depreciation last year), Austin, Texas (16 percent annual appreciation this year compared to 9 percent last year), Augusta, Georgia (15 percent annual appreciation this year compared to 6 percent last year) and Greensboro, North Carolina (14 percent annual appreciation compared to no appreciation last year).
Report methodology:
The RealtyTrac Home Price Appreciation Report provides median prices for sales of residential properties nationwide, by state and metropolitan statistical areas with a population of 500,000 or more. Data is available for all metro areas upon request. The data is derived from recorded sales deeds in disclosure states where the home price is included on the recorded sales deed and from median list prices in non-disclosure states where the home price is not required to be included on the recorded deed. Data Licensing and Custom Report Order: Investors, businesses and government institutions can contact RealtyTrac to license bulk foreclosure and neighborhood data or purchase customized reports. For more information contact RealtyTrac’s Data Licensing Department at 800.462.5193 or datasales@realtytrac.com.
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