Top markets see double-digit increases
Double-digit price appreciation was recorded in 26 markets (11%), a decline from 14% in the prior quarter. Among large metro areas, Syracuse, New York led with a 17.9% annual increase, followed by Montgomery, Ala. (16.1%) and Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa. (13.6%). Six of the top 10 gainers were located in New York and Ohio.
Regionally, the Northeast posted the strongest price growth at 10.3%, followed by the Midwest (5.2%), West (4.1%), and South (1.3%), which also accounted for the largest share of US existing-home sales at 44.9%.
California continued to dominate the list of most expensive markets. The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area topped the list with a median price of $2.02 million, followed by Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine ($1.45 million) and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward ($1.32 million). Urban Honolulu, Hawaii, was the only non-mainland market in the top tier.
Yun attributed the high prices in these markets to prolonged underbuilding and lower homeownership rates, which he said contributed to “more unequal wealth distribution.”