RealtyTrac, a source for comprehensive housing data, released its November 2014 Residential & Foreclosure Sales Report, which shows that the median sales price of U.S. single family homes and condos in November was $190,000, flat with the previous month but up 15 percent from a year ago.
The median sales price of distressed homes — those in the foreclosure process or bank-owned — reached $128,625, the highest level since December 2009, and 35 percent below the median sales price of non-distressed properties, $199,000. Distressed home prices increased at a faster pace, up 18 percent from a year ago, while non-distressed home prices were up 14 percent during the same time period.
“As the price of distressed properties reaches a new high, the pool of investor activity that has been fueling the housing recovery may dry up,” RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist said. “However, 20 states still saw annual decreases in distressed property prices, so we will continue to see a fragmented recovery as investors move from once hot markets such as Phoenix, Atlanta and many California markets and into markets such as Charlotte, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas and Oklahoma City.
“Thankfully, the increase in first-time homebuyers in November (31 percent according to National Association of Realtors) helped push home prices up slightly, with home appreciation on average 6 percent among all metro areas with a population of 500,000 or more,” Blomquist added. “We saw strong price appreciation in Rust Belt cities like Detroit, Cleveland and Chicago contrasted with single-digit price appreciation in many coastal California markets, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and the District of Columbia.”
The November median sales price — which included both distressed sales of homes in some stage of foreclosure and non-distressed sales — was up 35 percent from a trough of $141,000 in March 2012, but still 20 percent below the previous peak of $237,537 in August 2006.
The share of homes priced above $200,000 increased while the share of homes below $200,000 decreased. The biggest increase in share of home sales was in the $500,000 to $1 million range (up 20 percent). Sales over $1 million also were up 15 percent.
Markets with highest home price appreciation
Among metro areas with a population of 500,000 or more and sufficient home price data, those with the biggest annual increase in median sales price were Detroit, Mich. (up 32 percent); Toledo, Ohio (up 23 percent); Dayton Ohio (up 20 percent); Modesto, Calif.; and Lakeland Fla. (both up 18 percent).
Other major metro areas with double-digit appreciation compared with a year ago included Houston (up 16 percent); Memphis, Tenn. (up 16 percent); Atlanta (up 15 percent); Chicago (up 13 percent); Miami (up 13 percent); Sarasota, Fla. (up 12 percent); Cincinnati (up 11 percent); and Seattle (up 11 percent).
Markets with accelerating home price appreciation
Home price appreciation accelerated in 42 of the 102 (41 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 Dayton, Ohio (20 percent annual appreciation this year compared with 1 percent annual depreciation last year); Akron, Ohio (17 percent annual appreciation this year compared with 3 percent annual depreciation last year); Tulsa, Okla. (8 percent annual appreciation this year compared with 4 percent annual depreciation last year); Augusta-Richmond County metro area (15 percent annual appreciation this year compared with 3 percent annual appreciation last year); and Lancaster, Penn. (8 percent annual appreciation this year compared with 3 percent annual depreciation last year).
Short sales share reaches pre-recession levels nationwide
Short sales accounted for 3.4 percent of all residential property sales in November, down from the previous month and a year ago, and below the pre-recession average of 4.5 percent a month in 2006.
Bucking the national trend, five states saw an increase in short sales share compared with a year ago, including Rhode Island (3.6 percent compared with 0.1 percent a year ago), West Virginia (2.4 percent compared with 1.0 percent a year ago), Vermont (1.5 percent compared with 0.7 percent a year ago), New Jersey (6.2 percent compared with 5.2 percent a year ago) and Illinois (7.3 percent compared with 7.2 percent a year ago).
Metro areas with the highest percentage of short sales were in Miami (11.2 percent); Tampa, Fla. (7.6 percent); Orlando, Fla., (7.6 percent); Chicago (7.5 percent); and Las Vegas (7.3 percent).
Bank-owned sales share sees slight uptick from the previous month but down from a year ago
Sales of bank-owned properties nationwide accounted for 7.8 percent of all U.S. residential sales in November, up slightly from the previous month, but down from 9.0 percent a year ago.
Metro areas with the highest percentage of bank-owned sales were in Las Vegas (23.9 percent); Stockton, Calif. (23.6 percent); Modesto, Calif. (21.1 percent); Toledo, Ohio (20.5 percent); and Bakersfield, Calif. (18.2 percent).