Home values in some of the most booming cities in the country saw a decline late this summer, in some cases comprising the steepest drops seen in more than a decade.
Such results are just some of the numbers released by the Seattle-based real estate marketing company Zillow in its latest national housing market report.
The publication shows that, in the West, such real estate popular cities as Los Angeles and San Francisco have seen a more than 3% drop in the average price of a home between July and August.
The trend was also notable in Seattle and Salt Lake City, with declines of 2.6%.
In a move to counter marginally decreasing demand, say the report, some 28% of all listings nationally have seen a price cut, with the cut being the largest in Austin, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City.
The typical home value nationally dropped 0.3% between July and August, and now stands at $356,054. “That’s the largest monthly decline since 2011,” notes the report, “and follows a 0.1% decrease in July.”
Despite this most recent decline, home values overall are up just over 14% from where they wee in the late summer of last year, and a sizable 43.8% over August of 2019.
While potential homebuyers may find some relief in the most recent decrease in prices, the increase in average mortgage will likely give pause. The Zillow report pegs the average monthly mortgage payment on a newly purchased home at $1,643. That’s up from just under $900 in August of 2019, representing an enormous 83% increase.
While Western metro areas saw a home price decline, the opposite was recorded in the Midwest and South, with Cincinnati and Indianapolis up by 0.4% and 0.5% respectively. Louisville, Kentucky saw a 0.2% increase, while Birmingham was up by 0.9%.
Adds the report: “Reduced competition has homes lingering on the market. Typical time before a listing goes pending is now 16 days, three days more than in July—a steeper increase than the market usually sees this time of year—and up from an all-time low of six days in April.”
By Garry Boulard
