Making history, the average asking price for a home in February hit the $392,000 mark – a record, according to a just-released industry analysis.
That figure, according to the site Realtor.com, is now some 13% greater than where things stood in February of last year, and a significant 27% jump over February of 2020, the month before the Covid 19 outbreak.
The report, February 2022 Monthly Housing Market Trends, also reveals that the inventory of active listings nationally declined by 24.5% in the last twelve months. Indicating a current tight market, that inventory is also down by a substantial nearly 63% from early 2020.
A sense of homebuyer demand is also seen in the amount of time a typical house these days spends on the market: 47 days. In early 2021 the figure stood at 64 days, while in the month before the pandemic it was at 79 days.
According to Sabrina Speianu, economic data manager with Realtor, February’s national median listing price “surpassed last year’s July seasonal high,” with time on the market “declining faster than usual heading into the spring season.”
Meanwhile, the nation’s for-sale inventory is expected to increase in the weeks ahead in the typical spring pattern as more newly listed homes come onto the market.
Regionally, some of the highest median prices are being seen in the West, with metro Denver at an unprecedented $650,000; the popular Austin market now at $575,000; metro Phoenix at $500,000; and metro Las Vegas at $474,000.
The Midwest, meanwhile, saw some of the country’s lower median home prices, although still higher than in recent years, with metro Indianapolis at $287,000; Detroit at $217,000; and the Cleveland metro area at $177,000.
By Garry Boulard
