I always find it interesting to see the differences in home values across the country. In Boston and Provincetown we are in solid real estate markets with values substantially above the national average. In Boston, including all neighborhoods the median price of single family homes sold through Q2 was $364K, up 3% from last years $353K. In Provincetown the median sales price for a single family homes sold year to date through Q2 was $675K, up 15% from $586K last year. (I don’t always use median prices for comparison but since this report does I wanted to compare apples to apples.) The post below illustrates pretty mediocre northeast performance compared to these gains we have seen in Boston and Provincetown.
See Inman post below.
Top 10 metros for median price gains
NAR: Prices up from a year ago in 110 of 147 metros
BY INMAN NEWS, THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2012.
But Yun predicted even more markets would post gains in the quarters ahead, which will improve the equity position of existing homeowners, many of whom owe more on their mortgages than their home is worth.
At the national level, the median sale price of existing single-family homes during the second quarter was up 7.3 percent from a year ago, to $181,500. That’s the biggest annual increase in six years, but still left the national median home price down 20.1 percent from the 2006 peak.
Nearly 1 in 4 markets tracked by NAR (34) saw annual price declines. Seven of the 10 markets experiencing the biggest declines were in the Northeast.
The Northeast region saw median home prices fall 1.6 percent from a year ago, to $241,300.
| Metropolitan area | Median price, Q2 2011 | Median price, Q2 2012 | Change from year ago |
| Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn. |
$430,500
|
$374,900
|
-12.9%
|
| Edison, N.J. |
$328,600
|
$297,500
|
-9.5%
|
| Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss. |
$111,000
|
$100,600
|
-9.4%
|
| Elmira, N.Y. |
$115,200
|
$105,700
|
-8.2%
|
| Atlantic City, N.J. |
$237,000
|
$218,700
|
-7.7%
|
| Pittsfield, Mass. |
$197,100
|
$182,200
|
-7.6%
|
| Charleston, W.Va. |
$134,700
|
$126,700
|
-5.9%
|
| Green Bay, Wis. |
$137,800
|
$129,800
|
-5.8%
|
| Manchester-Nashua, N.H. |
$225,700
|
$212,700
|
-5.8%
|
| Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn. |
$236,800
|
$226,300
|
-4.4%
|
Source: National Association of Realtors
Among markets seeing the strongest annual price appreciation, many experienced sharp declines at the beginning of the downturn, including Detroit, Phoenix and Fort Myers, Fla. In all but one of the 10 markets showing the biggest year-over-year gains, the median sales price was well below the national median.
Top 10 markets for median price gains
| Metropolitan area | Median price, Q2 2011 | Median price, Q2 2012 | Change from year ago |
| Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich |
$46,600
|
$60,200
|
29.2%
|
| Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. |
$115,000
|
$148,400
|
29.0%
|
| Boise City-Nampa, Idaho |
$113,600
|
$138,200
|
21.7%
|
| Florence, S.C. |
$112,900
|
$136,100
|
20.5%
|
| Akron, Ohio |
$100,200
|
$116,700
|
16.5%
|
| Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y. |
$113,000
|
$131,600
|
16.5%
|
| Bismarck, N.D. |
$169,000
|
$194,000
|
14.8%
|
| Cumberland, Md.-W.Va. |
$89,500
|
$102,700
|
14.7%
|
| Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. |
$114,200
|
$130,700
|
14.4%
|
| Peoria, Ill. |
$114,800
|
$128,900
|
12.3%
|
Source: National Association of Realtors
Total existing-home sales including single-family and condos were down 0.7 percent from the first quarter to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.54 million, with distressed homes (foreclosures and short sales) accounting for 26 percent of transactions, down from 33 percent a year ago.
NAR estimates that first-time buyers, who historically have accounted for 40 percent of home purchases, purchased 34 percent of all homes in the second quarter, up from 33 percent during the first quarter but down from 35 percent a year ago.
Investors, who often pay cash and compete with first-time buyers, accounted for 19 percent of all purchases in the second quarter, down from 22 percent in the first quarter but about the same as a year ago. Some 29 percent of sales were “all cash,” down from 32 percent in the first quarter and 30 percent a year ago.