There is little choice, high mortgage rates, and exorbitant property costs.
The one minor bright spot in the housing market is that, according to real estate marketplace Realtor.com, more reasonably priced properties are becoming available.
According to Realtor.com, the national median listing price increased 0.3% to $442,500 in May compared to the same month last year, but the price per square foot increased 3.8%.
The price per square foot has increased 52.7% and the median listing price has increased 37.5% since May 2019.
Homes no longer feel like a good deal due to significant price increases since 2019.
However, Realtor.com notes that there are now more reasonably priced properties available due to the significant disparity between the percentage changes in listing price and price per square foot.
How much is a “affordable” home?
Realtor.com reported that more properties were listed for sale in May than there were a year earlier, marking the seventh consecutive month of increases in inventory, which is positive news for prospective buyers.
Nevertheless, “a deeper dive into the mix of homes for sale shows a 46.6% increase in homes priced in the $200,000 to $350,000 range across the country year-over-year, even surpassing the high of 41.0% last month, indicating affordable homes continue to enter the market,” the report stated.
According to the report, from February through May, inventory increase in this price bracket exceeded that of all other pricing categories every single month.
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Where have the prices of homes for sale jumped the most?
There were gains in every American area in May. In the South, the West, the Midwest, and the Northeast, listings increased by 47.2%, 34.5%, 20.5%, and 9.4%, respectively, over the previous year.
In May, there were more active listings than there were a year earlier in all 50 of the major metro regions. The three metro regions with the highest increases in inventory were Orlando (78.0%), Tampa (87.4%), and Phoenix (80.3%).
Nevertheless, inventory barely exceeded pre-pandemic levels in 12 metro areas. The majority of them were found in the West and South, particularly in Denver (+22.0%), Austin (+33.6%), and San Antonio (+31.8%).
