July 18, 2012 (Chris Moore)
The inventory of homes for sale in the United States grew for the fourth consecutive month in June while the prices that sellers asked for their homes remained flat from the previous month, increasing by only $100 from May according to the latest housing data of 146 metro areas released by Realtor.com.
Total listings of existing homes for sale increased 0.52 percent from May with a total of 1,886,690 single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and co-ops were listed for sale in June compared to 1,876,924 in May. The total number of homes listed for sale was still 19.35 percent lower than a year ago.
The median list price for an existing home in June was $195,000, up 0.05 percent from $194,900 in May, and 2.68 percent higher than in June 2011.
The Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc, CA, area showed the greatest improvement in year-over-year list prices in June. List prices in the area are up 33.14 percent over June of last year. The Phoenix-Mesa, AZ, area, which had held the top spot for the previous three months, had the second highest year-over-year gain of 32.19 percent.
San Francisco, CA, posted an increase of 15.44 percent over last year, followed by Boise City, ID, with a 14.94 percent annual increase, with Oakland, CA, rounding out the top five with a gain of 14.84 percent over last year.
The Peoria-Pelkin, IL, area posted the largest year-over-year decline in median list prices, falling 4.76 percent from a year ago followed by the Allentown-Bethlehem- Easton, PA, area which saw list prices in their area fall 4.76 percent.
Rounding out the bottom five was Toledo, OH, with a 4.35 percent decline, followed by Syracuse, NY, with a 3.22 percent decline and the Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI, area where annual list prices declined by 3.15 percent.
For the second consecutive month, none of the 146 metropolitan areas in the survey registered double digit declines in year-over-year listing prices. List prices are not necessarily indicative of selling prices, but may signal market sentiment by sellers. All together, 113 of the areas saw an increase in list prices.
The average number of days that an existing home spent on the market increased to 84 in June from 83 in May but was down from 93 days in June of last year. Twenty-three out of the 146 metropolitan areas required 100 days or more to sell a home, up from 22 in May.
Residents selling their homes in the southern region of South Carolina continued to wait the longest to sell their homes, averaging 147 days on the market, up from 143 days the previous month. Residents in Oakland had the shortest wait for the ninth consecutive month, averaging 24 days on the market, up from 23 days the previous month.
Tags: housing inventory, listed homes, home prices, median sales price, average list price
Source:
Realtor.com
