The spring/summer selling season continued in full swing in May as monthly and year-over-year closed transactions posted double digit gains according to RE/MAX’s monthly National Housing Report (NHR).
May followed April’s 8.1 percent monthly gain in closed transactions with a 13.2 percent increase and was 11.6 percent higher than in May of 2012, marking the 23rd consecutive month that home sales have increased year-over-year.
Forty-five out of the 53 metro areas in the report posted a year-over-year increase in closed transactions, up from 41 in April. Providence, RI (+25.3%), Raleigh& Durham, NC (+31.6%), Chicago, IL (+31.2%), Albuquerque, NM (+30.3%) and Trenton, NJ (+29.0%), recorded the highest year-over-year gains in closed transactions in May.
Housing supplies continued to remain constrained with the average monthly inventory of homes for sale declining by 0.9 percent from April and were 26.4 percent below the levels seen in May of 2012.
The average month’s supply of homes for sale fell from a 3.6 months supply of homes in April to a 3.5 months supply in May which was down from a 4.9 months supply in May of last year.
The median sales price of the homes sold in May was 4.2 percent higher than in the previous month of April, increasing from $177,200 to $185,000. The median sales price was 10.8 percent higher than the median price of $167,147 in May of 2012. It was the 16th consecutive month that home prices have increased year-over-year following 18 months of declines.
Fifty of the 53 metro areas posted higher sales prices in May than they did a year earlier, up from 49 the previous month. The areas that posted the largest price gains during the month were Detroit, MI (+44.1%), San Francisco, CA (+42.2%), Atlanta, GA (+38.9%), Las Vegas, NV (+31.6%) and Orlando, FL (+24.6%).
The average number of days that a listing stayed on the market fell to 70 in May, down from 77 days in April, and down from the 92 days it took a year ago.
Tags: home sales, home prices, seasonal trends, closed transactions, median sales price
Source:
RE/MAX
Reported by Jeff Alan