Boston Condos for Sale and Apartments for Rent
Home prices lose momentum into 2023
Home price growth slows as inventory fell in May
The growth of home prices slowed in May, and inventory continued to shrink, according to a new Realtor.com report.
Realtor.com’s May Monthly Housing Trends Report found active inventory fell in 21 of 50 of the largest metros as fewer sellers are listing their homes, increasing buyer competition.
Boston’s active listings fell 3.6%, and new listings fell 26.2%, compared to the same month last year.
Realtor.com’s Chief Economist Danielle Hale said April and May are historically popular months for buyers, and usually this time of year the market has exceeded the prior year’s peak home price.
“Weakening home price growth for the past 12 months is increasing the odds that we may not see a new home price peak this year, for the first time in the history of our listing data, which dates back to mid-2016, and this is likely welcome news to homeshoppers,” Hale said.
“The good news for sellers is that buyers are still out there, and this month’s slower growth in the active inventory of homes for sale indicates that shoppers are in the market and actively searching for homes that fit their needs and budget.”
Home price growth stalled in May with the median list price growing to $441,000, up from $430,000 in April but down 1.7% from June 2022’s $449,000 record high. That annual growth rate slowed in May to just 0.9%, the lowest price growth on record.
The median list price fell in 15 of the largest 50 metros with the greatest declines seen in Texas, where Austin prices fell 7.3% from last year, Houston was down 5.9% and San Antonio was down 5.8%.
Boston’s median list price was $867,000 in May, up 14.5% from 2022.
None of the 50 largest metros had a year-over-year increase in new listings in May. Listing activity fell 20.4% in the South, 32.9% in the West, 22.9% in the Northeast and 22.8% in the Midwest.
Homes are also taking longer to sell. In May they took two weeks longer than they did a year ago, with a typical home spending 43 days on market. While that’s 14 days longer than a year ago, it’s nine days faster than the pre-pandemic average.
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September prices down 1% from August: Case-Shiller Index
(Getty)
Not only did year-over-year U.S. home price growth cool in September, but home prices themselves fell from August as the market continues to slow.
Prices remain about 10 percent higher than they were a year ago, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, but growth has slowed. The index recorded a 10.6 percent annual gain in September, down from 12.9 percent in the previous month.
In fact, the national home price index dropped 0.8 percent month-over-month and the 10-city and 20-city composites both fell by 1.2 percent. The comparisons to August are seasonally adjusted.
“As has been the case for the past several months, our September 2022 report reflects short-term declines and medium-term deceleration in housing prices across the U.S.,” Craig Lazzara, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a statement.
Cities in the South and Southeast had the highest annual growth, with home prices in Miami and Tampa nearly 25 percent above last year. Homes in Charlotte and Atlanta, which placed third and fourth, cost about 17 percent more than a year ago.
The two worst-performing cities — or best, if you are a buyer — were San Francisco and Seattle, with annual price increases of 2 percent and 6 percent, respectively. All 20 cities in the Case-Shiller Index had lower price increases over the 12 months ending in September versus the year ending in August.
The Case-Shiller Index uses a three-month moving average to determine monthly prices. The latest report, for September, uses data from sales that closed beginning in July. The average interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose above 7 percent in October, indicating that further declines in growth rate or even in absolute prices could be in store.
The average rate has since fallen to 6.58 percent, its second decline in two weeks. However, many homebuyers and sellers remain sidelined as the Federal Reserve slows the economy to confront inflation.
“As the Federal Reserve continues to move interest rates higher, mortgage financing continues to be more expensive and housing becomes less affordable,” said Lazzara. “Given the continuing prospects for a challenging macroeconomic environment, home prices may well continue to weaken.”
