Homeowners earned a 55.6% profit margin on typical single-family home and condo sales in the United States during Q3 2024, according to ATTOM's Q3 2024 U.S. Home Sales Report. The figure was down by small amounts both quarterly and annually, dipping by one percentage point from Q2 2024 and two points year-over-year. While home-seller profits remain historically high, the national margin has declined almost every quarter from a 64% peak hit in 2022.
The nationwide investment return ticked downward as home-price spikes that had buoyed the housing market during the Spring of this year flattened out, leaving the U.S. median home value virtually unchanged at about $360,000.
“The latest price and profit numbers provided another round of generally good news for homeowners, tempered by a bit of a downside,” said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. “Home values remained at or near record levels around large swaths of the country, keeping seller profits far above historical levels. At the same time, though, the housing market settled down after a big second quarter, which extended a slow fallback in profit margins that started last year. If history is a good guide, the fourth quarter is likely to bring more of the same as the peak buying season ends.”
Barber added that “this is far from a warning sign that the long market boom is ending. But there certainly are forces that could cut either way, especially as affordability remains a challenge for so many potential buyers.”
Profit margins on home sales decreased or stayed the same in 50.6% of U.S. metro areas from Q2 to Q3 2024 and fell annually in 71.8%, with significant drops in cities like San Francisco (down from 84.9% to 61.4%) and Austin (down from 44.3% to 33.3%).
Despite the overall decline, 68.6% of metro areas still saw returns above 50%, with San Jose leading at 109.8%. Raw profits slipped slightly to $128,700 but remained near record highs, up 2.7% from 2023, with big increases in markets like Rochester, N.Y. (up 24.4%).
Median home prices rose just 0.2% from Q2 to Q3 2024 but hit a new high of $360,500, with major annual gains in cities like Rochester (up 11.1%) and Providence (up 10.3%). Homeowners selling in Q3 2024 had owned their homes for an average of 8.09 years, marking the fifth increase in six quarters. Foreclosures remained low, accounting for just 1.3% of sales, while cash sales dropped slightly to 37.2%, and institutional investment fell to 6%.
Transaction Data
Nationwide, all-cash sales accounted for 37.2% of single-family home and condo sales, which was down from 38.9% in Q2 2024, although up slightly from 36.9% in the third quarter of last year.
Institutional investors nationwide accounted for 6%, or one of every 17 single-family home and condo sales in the third quarter. That was down from 6.2% in Q2 2024 and from 6.6% in Q3 2023.
Buyers using Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans accounted for 8.4% of single-family home and condo sales in Q3 2024, similar to 8.2% in Q2, but down slightly from 8.7% in 2023.
