[1]An early look at the Realtor.com [2] national monthly housing data, which is based on the first three weeks of March, showed that housing demand is surging and median list prices are rising faster.
The median age of inventory declined by 13 percent month-over-month in March despite a 2 percent increase in inventory for that same period, according to Realtor.com. Meanwhile, the median list price for a home rose nationally by 3 percent month-over-month and 11 percent year-over-year up to $220,000 for March.
“It’s still a seller’s market,” said Jonathan Smoke, Realtor.com chief economist. “Realtor.com data shows that supply is not keeping pace with surging demand. We expect rising prices to persuade those who may be on the fence about listing their homes to do so in the coming months, leading to closer parity between supply and demand.”
The Realtor.com data concurred with Fannie Mae's March 2015 Housing Survey [3], which also showed signs of a seller's market. The percentage of respondents in Fannie Mae's survey who said they believe now is a good time to sell reached an all-time survey high of 46 percent while the percentage of people surveyed who said now is a good time to buy declined slightly to 20 percent, possibly indicating a move toward a more balanced housing market.
Smoke determined the 20 hottest housing markets in the nation based on the number of listing views relative to the number of listings when looking at March data and website traffic. Realtor.com said these markets should see plenty of activity in the next few months as homebuying season gets underway. The top 20 markets were: 1. Waco, Texas; 2. New Orleans-Metairie, Louisiana; 3. Ann Arbor, Michigan; 4. Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colorado; 5. Santa Rosa, California; 6. Fort Wayne, Indiana; 7. Vallejo-Fairfield, California; 8. San Diego-Carlsbad, California; 9. Columbus, Ohio; 10. Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Michigan; 11. Manchester-Nashua, New Hampshire; 12. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Massachusetts-New Hampshire; 13. Austin-Round Rock, Texas; 14. Boulder, Colorado; 15. Springfield, Illinois; 16. Charleston, West Virginia; 17. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; 18. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida; 19. College Station-Bryan, Texas; and 20. Lansing-East Lansing, Michigan.
Realtor.com's full report will be out later this month.