The increase in homes sales has shown great promise on the second quarter of this year. Insufficient supply has caused the steady increase in home prices in almost all of the metro areas in the U.S.
PR Newswire shows the updated quarterly report by the National Association of Realtors. Figures indicate that 163 out of 176 metropolitan statistical areas or MSAs had a 93% increase in measured markets for median existing single-family homes. Median prices were lower for the remaining 7% or 13 areas. These figures were in comparison with that of 2014's second quarter.
The Senior Vice President of Research for the National Association of Realtors, Lawrence Yun, shares his analysis on the current status of US home prices. Mr. Yun says that the overall supply was not enough to compensate for the demand which in turn caused prices to increase drastically. He continues on saying that the increase in local job opportunities, rental and mortgage rates as contributory factors for the demand. Lawrence then concludes that the slight increase in wages cannot compensate for the soaring rental rates and home prices in the said areas. Thus, the probability of renters owning their own home in these particular areas is far from becoming a reality.
Figures show the decrease in supply by 5.1 months from last year's 5.5 months.The end of the second quarter of 2014 there were 2.29 million homes made available for sale while the same quarter of this year only gave a figure of 2.30 million homes.
Market Watch reports that the top 5 most home prices rose in metro areas are San Diego, $547,800; Honolulu, $698,600; Anaheim-Santa Ana, Cal., $685,700; San Francisco, $841,600; and San Jose, Cal., $980,000. All these were based on the median existing single-family price. While the lowest five were Elmira, N.Y., with $98,300; Decatur, Ill., $96,000; Rockford, Ill., $94,700; Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio, $85,000; Cumberland, Md., $82,400.
PR News adds that the national median existing single-family home price for the first quarter this year is up 7.1% compared to last year. The second quarter showed metro areas home prices rose by 8.2% or an equivalent of $229,400 from $212,000 compared to the same quarter of 2014.
Overall, the soaring prices of homes due to the lack of supply in metro areas have benefited homeowners by increasing their household wealth. However, the probability of those that would be able to acquire a home has also decreased drastically.
