Tag Archives: Asking Prices

Asking prices on for-sale homes jumped 1.5 percent month-over-month in November, outpacing a pre-revised increase of 1.0 percent in October, according to property data firm Trulia. Examining local market data, Trulia found increases were largely split along age lines, with asking prices rising faster in metros predominantly populated by Gen X, baby boomers, and senior Americans compared to those occupied by more millennials.

Home prices leveled up nationwide in August, boosting long-dawdling markets in the South and accelerating the recovery in other states as foreclosure gluts begin to clear, according to Trulia. According to Trulia, asking home prices only nudged along by 1 percent nationally last month, just a little above the marginal climb in July. Asking prices, meanwhile, leapt ahead by 7.8 percent year over year.

According to Trulia, asking prices on listed homes rose 1.2 percent month-to-month in June, the highest monthly increase in more than a year. Unfortunately, consumer incomes have failed to keep pace. Out of the top 10 markets for annual price gains in June—most of which were in the South or Midwest—Trulia found that wages per worker rose less than 1 percent last year in all but one.

Home asking prices rose just 9.0 percent year-over-year in April, the smallest gain in 11 months, and Trulia chief economist Jed Kolko has a few ideas why that number has fallen. One reason for the slippage is from a large price spike during the housing recovery in February and April of 2013, according Kolko. Year-over-year changes in April 2014 no longer include these elevated months, dropping yearly asking price numbers.

As home sellers become more confident in the housing market, many are taking on what Redfin calls a “risky pricing strategy,” according to the online real estate brokerage’s latest survey. A little more than 40 percent of home sellers plan to price their homes above market value, Redfin’s data shows. Regardless of this bolstered confidence, Redfin warns overpricing a home is not a wise strategy in today’s market.

Trulia found that month-to-month asking prices nationally in urban markets rose 1.2 percent in March. Quarter-to-quarter, prices rose 2.9 percent in March, reflecting three straight months of solid month-over-month gains. Both calculations were seasonally adjusted. More encouraging is that asking prices are up a full 10 percent since last year, rising in 97 of the 100 largest metros.

Realtor.com released Thursday its list of the top markets for first-time homebuyers for the spring and summer seasons. To compile the list, analysts compared cities across five categories that have the biggest impact on buyers new to the market: list price affordability, time on market, employment rates, supply of inventory (and thus chances of competition), and—as the mantra goes—location, location, location.

Home buying competition rose over the month of January but was down from last January, according to national real estate brokerage Redfin, which took the year-over-year decline as a sign that low inventory and rising prices are thwarting demand in the housing market. About 58 percent of home offers by Redfin agents encountered a competing offer in January compared to nearly 53 percent in December.

The markets that were worst hit in the housing crisis remain among the top performers in the recovery, according to Trulia.

With reports showing home prices reaching five-year highs coming out on a near-monthly basis, home sellers this year have been aggressive in pricing their listings on the market. However, new data from technology-powered broker Redfin shows more and more sellers have had to dial back their expectations. Only about one in seven sellers had to resort to reducing their listing price in order to move their property, Redfin reported. However, that number has steadily risen to one in four as of September.