Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Contrary to Published Reports, Median Home Prices Have Accelerated in the Past 8 Weeks, Zip Realty Reports

  



EMERYVILLE, CA – ZipRealty, Inc. (http://www.ziprealty.com) (NASDAQ: ZIPR), the nation’s most prominent online technology-powered residential real estate brokerage firm and real estate marketing solutions provider, has released its latest Housing Trends Report.

Counter to a widely reported recent trend, year-over-year growth in median home sales prices has actually accelerated in the past eight weeks, according to the report.

Lanny Baker
 For the month ending Oct. 15, the sales price of nearly $269,000 in the 24 markets studied by ZipRealty was 14.9% higher than in the same period of 2012. However, for the month ended Sept. 30, the price was 14.6% higher and in the month ended Sept. 15, the annual increase was 14%.

 “That one-percentage-point increase in the sales price growth rate over the last month is small and could easily reverse itself in coming months, however; it does diverge from trends commonly reported in the media of late,” says ZipRealty’s CEO and President Lanny Baker. “Based on data in our authoritative, twice-monthly report, the housing market may not be stalling as much as originally reported.”

Available inventory of for sale homes continues to run 11% below year-earlier levels as of mid-October, with the sharpest tightening occurring in the middle part of the nation.

Inventory is down 26% in Chicago, 23% in Houston, 20% in Dallas, 17% in Austin and 4% in Nashville relative to a year ago. In the coast markets, for sale inventory is relatively stronger compared to last year: Inventory in San Diego is up 11% year-over-year, Sacramento is up 14% and inventory in some Mid-Atlantic markets are within 5% of last year’s levels.

“For the month ended Oct. 15, pending sales rose 14% year-over-year, while new listings rose 11%, suggesting that the inventory shortage isn’t remediating itself entirely at the moment.

“Days on market have increased to 33 as of mid-October from 30 days in mid-September, following a normal seasonal pattern in which transactions tend to taper off into the fall and winter, especially in colder climes,” adds Mr. Baker.

For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact:

Stacey Corso
510.735.2667


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