According to Realtor.com’s Monthly Housing Trends Report, the US median home price continued its double-digit appreciation in May 2021, reaching an all-time high of $380,000.
In May, listings were up 5.4% compared to last year, yet less than half of the inventory was available. Homes are selling 32 days faster than the same time period last year, and 18 days quicker than in 2017-2019. Some of the sales figures from 2020 might be exaggerated due to the pandemic’s effect on the market. Comparisons to previous years are provided for this reason.
Data from May indicates that large metros may be leading the national cooldown in price growth. Thanks to new sellers, large metros saw lower annual price gains than the national rate and a large number of new homes added to the market.
Chief economist of Realtor.com, Danielle Hale, said, “Home buyers looking to lock in still low mortgage rates face fierce competition for fewer homes for sale than last year's historic pandemic lows, pushing up the typical asking price in May to an all-time high for the fourth consecutive month. The good news is that price momentum may be beginning to cool off.”
In April, the media list price grew to $380,000, which is the highest it's been since 2012. After 10 consecutive months of double digit price growth, the pace of growth slowed to 15.2% year-over-year in May. In April, the year-over-year increase was 17.2%.
“While still in the double-digits, May was the first non-weather related slowing in price appreciation since April 2020. And with a normal, summer seasonal peak in home prices expected this year, we could see growth fall back to a more normal single-digit pace in the fall,” Hale added.
The price of active listings in the nation’s largest metros grew, on average, 7.4% in May compared to last year. The 50 largest US metros that saw the largest increases include: Austin, Texas (+32.2%), Riverside, California (+21.5%), and Las Vegas (+18.5%).
The data shows prospective buyers are pressured to move quickly with the average time on the market reaching an all-time low of 39 days in May. Compared to 2017-2019, homes sold 19 days faster, and compared to 2020, homes sold 32 days faster.
Read more from the Monthly Housing Trends Report.
