ATTOM: Home Sellers Saw Average Price Gain of $67,100 in 1Q
ATTOM Data Solutions, Irvine, Calif., released its First-Quarter 2020 U.S. Home Sales Report, which showed home sellers nationwide realized a home price gain of $67,100 on the typical sale, up from $66,264 in the fourth quarter and up from $59,000 a year ago.
ATTOM said the $67,100 typical home-seller profit represented a 33.7 percent return on investment compared to the original purchase price, down from the post-recession high of 34.4 percent in the fourth quarter but up from 32.8 percent a year ago.
At the same time, the median price for single-family homes and condominiums rose to a new high of $265,900 in the first quarter, up 2.9 percent quarterly and 11.3 percent year-over-year. The annual increase was the largest since third quarter 2013.
“The national housing market continued at full throttle in the first quarter of 2020, setting new price and profit records as it entered its ninth straight year of gains,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions. “After it looked like things were settling down last year, the market has again roared ahead, with significant increases.”
However, Teta noted the latest momentum “is likely to hit a wall and reverse because of the drastic economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Millions of Americans are newly unemployed, and most people are practicing social distancing, which could bring things to a halt just as the spring buying season begins. Despite that cloud, the numbers for Q1 still do remain upbeat.”
The report said among 108 metropolitan statistical areas with at least 1,000 single-family home and condo sales in the first quarter, western states continued to reap the highest returns on investment, with concentrations on or near the west coast. Metro areas with the highest home seller ROIs were in San Jose, Calif. (81.8 percent); San Francisco (67.7 percent); Seattle (63.6 percent); Spokane, Wash. (61.8 percent) and Boise, Idaho (59.1 percent).
Other report findings:
–The U.S. median home price increased annually 11.3 percent in the first quarter, hitting a new high of $265,900. The annual home-price appreciation in the first quarter far surpassed the 2.8 percent annual gain in first quarter 2019 and the 7.6 annual gain in first quarter 2018.
–Boise, Idaho saw the largest year over year increase (21.9 percent). Home prices in the first quarter hit new peaks in 17 of the 108 metros (16 percent), including Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Orlando and Portland, Ore.
–Homeowners who sold in the first quarter had owned their homes an average of 8.01 years, down slightly from 8.04 years in the previous quarter but up from 7.72 years in the first quarter of 2019.
–Nationwide, all-cash purchases accounted for 26.6 percent of single-family home and condo sales in the first quarter, up from 25.6 percent in the fourth quarter but down from 27.4 percent a year ago, and well off the 43.0 percent level recorded in first quarter 2011. However, the latest figure still exceeds pre-recession levels of 15 to 25 percent between 2000 and 2007.
–Distressed home sales accounted for 9.9 percent of all U.S. single-family home and condo sales in the first quarter, down from 10.8 percent in the prior quarter and from 13.8 percent a year earlier. The latest figure marked the lowest point since the fourth quarter of 2006 and is only about one-fifth of the peak level of 45.2 percent in first quarter of 2009.
–Institutional investors nationwide accounted for 2.2 percent of all single-family home and condo sales in the first quarter, down from 4.1 percent in the fourth quarter to the lowest point since at least 2000.
–Nationwide, buyers using FHA loans accounted for 12.3 percent of all single-family home and condo purchases in the first quarter, down from 12.8 percent in the previous quarter but up from 11.1 percent a year earlier.
