Home Prices Rise 14% in One Year

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IRVINE, CA-The average sale price of US residential properties rose 14% in September from a year earlier, a 2% increase over August's average, according to RealtyTrac. The firm also reports that the pace of home price gains is beginning to plateau in the nation's fastest-appreciating markets.

The national median sales price of all residential properties—including both distressed and non-distressed—in September was $174,000, up 1% from a revised $172,000 median price in August and up 6% from a $164,500 median price in September 2012. The median price of a distressed residential property—in foreclosure or bank-owned—in September was $112,000, 41% below the median price of $189,000 for a non-distressed residential property. Distressed sales combined accounted for 25% of all sales in September, up from 18% of all sales a year ago, RealtyTrac reports.

“Distressed sales remain persistently high, particularly short sales,” says Daren Blomquist, VP of RealtyTrac. “Markets with the biggest increases in short sales tend to be those where either foreclosure starts or scheduled foreclosure auctions have rebounded in the last 18 months—translating into more motivated short sellers—or those with a still-high percentage of underwater homeowners with negative equity.”

Short sales accounted for 15% of all US residential sales in September, up from 14% in August and 9% in September 2012. States with the biggest percentage of short sales were Nevada, Florida, Ohio, Maryland and Tennessee. Among metro areas with a population of one million or more, those with the highest percentage of short sales were Las Vegas; Columbus, OH; Tampa, FL; Memphis, TN; and Miami.

While annualized sales volume increased from the previous month in 34 out of the 38 states RealtyTrac tracked in the report and was up from a year ago in 35 states, annualized sales volume decreased from a year ago in California, Arizona and Nevada. California was also the state with the biggest annual increases in median prices, followed by Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Arizona. San Francisco was the million-or-more-resident metro area with the greatest annual increase in median prices, followed by Detroit; Sacramento; Atlanta; Riverside-San Bernardino, CA; and Phoenix.

Home price appreciation showed signs of plateauing in these top-six appreciating markets. In all six markets, the annual increase in home prices was down compared to previous months this year.

Sales of bank-owned homes accounted for 10% of all US residential sales in September, up from 9% in August and also 9% in September 2012.  Million-resident-plus metros with the highest percentage of bank-owned sales were Las Vegas; Riverside-San Bernardino, CA; Cleveland; Phoenix; and Columbus, OH.

For the complete report from RealtyTrac, click here.     

As GlobeSt.com reported earlier this week, RealtyTrac recently held a webinar about home-flipping in which two of the most successful home flippers—Doug Clark of Spike TV's “Flip Men” and Scott Yancey of A&E's “Flipping Vegas”—said they had found mentors in the real estate industry and learned all they could from them before buying their first home to flip.

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