While sales dropped slightly from a year ago, December capped off a 2017 of record home prices, speedy sales and low inventory.
The January RE/MAX National Housing Report shows the median home price rose 8.1% year-over-year, with 50 of the report’s 54 markets posting increases. At the same time, December sales dropped 3.3% from December 2016, with 39 markets reporting fewer transactions. Making sales harder was a Months Supply of Inventory of 3.7 which is the lowest December figure in the nine-year history of the report. That corresponds with a 14.6% decline in inventory, lengthening a streak of monthly declines that began in November 2008.
Also setting a report record for December was the speed of home sales: 57 days. That figured into an overall 2017 median for Days on Market of 52.5 — nearly a week less than the 2016 median of 58.5 days.
Home buyers paid record prices in 2017, led by June’s Median Price Sold of $245,000. Prices increased year-over-year in every month of 2017, with December marking the 21st consecutive month of year-over-year price increases dating back to April 2016.
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