US property prices up 5% and sales up 8% year on year

Property prices in the United States are up 5% compared to a year ago and sales are up 8% according to a new index from real estate data specialist RealtyTrac. The report also shows the national median sales price was $168,000 in June, up 3% from the previous month. The median price of a distressed sale, property in foreclosure or bank owned, was $120,000, some 34% below the median price of a non-distressed sale.

‘The US housing market is slowly but surely moving toward a more normalised and sustainable pattern after a flurry of institutional and cash buyers flocked to residential real estate last year, pushing up prices and picking clean the best inventory available in many areas,’ said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. ‘Rising home values should continue to unlock more non-distressed inventory while also pricing institutional investors out of more markets, which, combined with rising interest rates, will cool off the pace of price appreciation,’ he pointed out.

‘Still, lingering distressed inventory in many markets will continue to provide fodder for institutional investors and cash buyers in those markets. Markets where sales increased in June tend to be in states with that lingering distressed inventory, whereas markets where sales decreased tend to be in states that more quickly absorbed distressed inventory thanks to a relatively fast foreclosure process and strong demand,’ he added.

Quote from PropertyForum.com : “Existing home prices in the United States have increased by 13.5% in the last 12 months, according to the latest data from the National Association of Realtors.”

All cash purchases accounted for 30% of all sales in June, down from 31% of all sales in the previous month and a year ago. Metro areas with higher percentages of cash sales included Cape Coral-Fort Myers in Florida at 70%, Miami at 64%, Las Vegas at 62%, Sarasota in Florida at 59%, Tampa at 58% and Detroit at 56%.

Sales of bank-owned properties accounted for 9% of all residential sales in June which while on a par with a year ago is actually down from 10% in May 2013. Metro areas where bank-owned sales accounted for higher percentages of total sales included Detroit at 24%, Modesto in California at 24%, Stockton in California at 24%, Las Vegas at 22% and Akron in Ohio at 21%.

Short sales, where the sale price is below the combined total of outstanding mortgages secured on the property, accounted for 14% of all residential sales in June, up from 8% a year ago but down from 15% in May 2013. States with the highest percentage of short sales in June included Nevada at 30%, Florida at 29%, Maryland at 21%, Tennessee at 19% and Arizona reported a rate of 19%.

Metro areas with annual increases in median prices of 20% or greater include Sacramento at 35%, San Francisco at 30% and Los Angeles at 27% although Las Vegas at 26% and Phoenix at 25% were not too far behind. States with the biggest distressed sale discount included Ohio at 58%, Michigan at 48% and Illinois at 47% with Massachusetts at 46% and Wisconsin at 45% also prominent on the list.