Housing Price Gains Taper, Poised to Stabilize

EMERYVILLE, CA-The end of 2013 saw the momentum in single-family housing prices cool off on a year-over-year basis, although demand still outpaced supply, ZipRealty Inc. said Thursday. Longer term, most forecasters surveyed by Seattle-based Zillow Inc. are predicting that prices will gradually stabilize over the next few years as large-scale investors begin tapering off their activity in this arena.

Median sales prices in the 24 markets surveyed by ZipRealty ended ‘13 with an 11% Y-O-Y increase, compared to gains of 15% to 16% seen this past summer and fall. The sold-to-list price ratio also trended downward to 98.4% as of Dec. 31, after holding steady at 99% through the spring and summer.