The median price for a single-family home has soared past $2 million in the San Jose metro area, marking the first time any US region hit that benchmark.
Nationwide, the sales price of single-family existing homes rose in 89% of metro areas in the second quarter of 2024, according to a recent report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The national median single-family existing-home price is now $422,100--marking a 4.9% increase from the same period in 2023.
Of the 223 metro areas, 13% experienced double-digit price gains over the same period. The highest gain was recorded in the median single-family existing-home price in San Jose, California, which hit $2,008,000. It is the first time the median price for a single-family home has exceeded $2 million in any metro area in the US since the NAR began tracking home prices in 1979.
"Not enough housing is being built in the Bay Area," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun wrote in an email to SFGATE. "So, it is becoming a playground only for the rich. Middle-income households will be forced to live farther out in Modesto and Sacramento."
Where Is the Median Existing Home Sale Price the Highest?
California metro areas represented seven of the top 10 most expensive metros. Specifically, those markets were:
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara: $2,008,000
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward: $1,449,000
Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine: $1,437,000
San Diego-Carlsbad: $1,050,000
Salinas: $1,035,700
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura: $927,900
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles: $895,300
Other metro areas with the highest median single-family existing-home price include Urban Honolulu, Hawaii ($1,101,500); Boulder, Colorado ($888,300); and Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Florida ($867,000).
Consequently, the top 10 metro areas that recorded the largest year-over-year median price increases during the quarter include:
Racine, Wisconsin: 19.8%
Glens Falls, New York: 19.8%
El Paso, Texas: 19.2%
Morristown, Tennessee: 16.7%
Manchester-Nashua, New Hampshire: 16.2%
Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, California: 15.0%
New York-Jersey City-White Plains, New York-New Jersey: 14.8%
Springfield, Illinois: 14.8%
Dutchess County-Putnam County, New York: 14.2%
Trenton, New Jersey: 14.1%
