NEW YORK – REAL ESTATE – The average home seller price gain of $51,000 in Q2 2017 represented an average return of 26 percent on the previous purchase price of the home, the highest average home seller return since Q3 2007.
The report also shows that homeowners who sold in the second quarter had owned an average of 8.05 years, up from 7.85 years in the previous quarter and up from 7.59 years in Q2 2016 to the longest average homeownership tenure as far back as data is available, Q1 2000.
“Potential home sellers in today’s market are caught in a Catch-22. While it’s the most profitable time to sell in a decade, it’s also extremely difficult to find another home to purchase, which is helping to keep homeowners in their homes longer before selling,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions.
Cash sales share increases annually for first time since Q1 2013
All-cash sales represented 28.9 percent of all single family and condo sales in Q2 2017, down from 31.3 percent of all sales in the first quarter, but up from 27.3 percent of all sales in Q2 2016 — the first annual increase in the share of cash sales since Q1 2013.
Institutional investor sales share down nationwide, up in 26 percent of local markets
The share of U.S. single family home and condo sales sold to institutional investors (entities buying at least 10 properties in a calendar year) was 2.1 percent in the second quarter, up from 1.8 percent in the first quarter but down from 2.6 percent a year ago.
Counter to the national trend, 19 of the 73 metro areas (26 percent) posted year-over-year increases in the share of institutional investor purchases, including Memphis, Charlotte, Nashville, Baltimore, and Raleigh.
Highest average home seller returns in Northern California, Seattle and Denver
Among 118 metropolitan statistical areas with at least 1,000 home sales in Q2 2017 with previous sale information available, those with the highest average home seller returns were San Jose, California (75 percent); San Francisco, California (65 percent); Seattle, Washington (63 percent); Modesto, California(62 percent); and Denver, Colorado (62 percent).
“An ongoing issue in the greater Seattle area is a lack of supply which is aggressively driving up home prices,” said Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere Real Estate, covering the Seattlemarket. “The only short-term solution is to build more homes, but thanks to land constraints and construction costs, this simply is not happening at a rate that you would normally expect in a market like this.”
Average homeownership tenure down in Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, DC and Detroit
Counter to the national trend, the average homeownership tenure in Q2 2017 decreased from a year ago in 25 of 89 metro areas analyzed in the report (28 percent), including Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Detroit.
“Across Southern California we are witnessing concerns over housing affordability keeping homeowners in current homes for longer tenure, and keeping available home inventories low in supply.” said Michael Mahon, president at First Team Real Estate covering the Southern Californiamarket, where the average homeownership tenure reached a new all-time high of 9.55 years in Q2 2017.
Distressed sale share drops to lowest level since Q3 2007
Total distressed sales — bank-owned (REO) sales, third-party foreclosure auction sales, and short sales — accounted for 13.4 percent of all single family and condo sales in Q2 2017, down from 17.1 percent in the first quarter and down from 15.2 percent in Q2 2016 to the lowest level since Q3 2007.
View the full report and report methodology.
ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s largest multi-sourced property database, today released its Q2 2017 U.S. Home Sales Report, which shows that homeowners who sold in the second quarter realized an average price gain of $51,000 since purchase — the highest average price gain since Q2 2007.
