Realtor.com® Housing Report: Home Prices Reach New High at $380,000 in May

Rhea-AI Summary

The U.S. median home price reached an all-time high of $380,000 in May 2021, marking a 15.2% year-over-year increase, although the growth rate is slowing. New listings rose 5.4% year-over-year, yet total inventory is down 20.8% from last year, leading to homes selling 32 days faster on average. Major metros like Austin and Riverside saw significant price increases, while the overall market is expected to stabilize with potential for single-digit growth in the fall.

Positive

• Median home price increased to $380,000, marking an all-time high.
• New listings rose by 5.4% year-over-year, indicating increased seller activity.
• Homes sold 32 days faster on average compared to last year, reflecting high demand.

Negative

• Total unsold home inventory decreased by 20.8% from May 2020.
• Active listings were over 50% lower than last year, indicating a severe inventory shortage.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. median home price continued its double-digit appreciation in May reaching a new an all-time high of $380,000, but in a good sign for home shoppers contending with a competitive housing market, the rate of price growth moderated for the second time in 13 months,¹ according to the Realtor.com^® Monthly Housing Trends Report released today.

In what is looking more like a typical home-buying season, sellers continued to come to the market in May with new listings up 5.4% year-over-year. However, with less than half the total number of homes for sale compared to last year, homes are selling 32 days faster than a year ago and 18 days faster than 2017-2019. It is important to note that the housing market stalled during the early days of the pandemic last April and May, exaggerating many of the year-over-year comparisons. To provide perspective, 2017-2019 comparisons are provided when appropriate.

"Home buyers looking to lock in still low mortgage rates face fierce competition for fewer homes for sale than last year's historic pandemic lows, pushing up the typical asking price in May to an all-time high for the fourth consecutive month," said Realtor.com^® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. "The good news is that price momentum may be beginning to cool off. While still in the double-digits, May was the first non-weather related slowing in price appreciation since April 2020. And with a normal, summer seasonal peak in home prices expected this year, we could see growth fall back to a more normal single-digit pace in the fall."

Hale said Realtor.com^®'s May data indicates that large metros may be leading the national cooldown in price growth thanks to more new sellers. In May, the largest metros saw lower annual price gains than the national rate and some of the largest number of new homes added to the market.

Prices hit all-time high as growth pace slows

Nationally, the median list price grew to $380,000 in April, the latest all-time high seen according to Realtor.com^® data, which dates back to 2012. Although the tenth consecutive month of double-digit price increases, the pace of growth slowed to 15.2% year-over-year in May, lower than the 17.2% year-over-year increase reported in April.

Active listing prices in the nation's largest metros grew by an average of 7.4% in May compared to last year. Among the 50 largest U.S. metros, Austin, Texas (+32.2%), Riverside, Calif. (+21.5%), and Las Vegas (+18.5%) saw the largest increases.

Tight inventory even as sellers add new listings

Nationally, the total inventory of unsold homes (including pending listings) declined 20.8% from May 2020, while active listings were more than half of (-50.9%) last year's levels. New listings grew 5.4% compared to last year. Although more sellers are entering the market, there were 522,000 fewer homes actively for sale in May compared to a year ago, when the market had stalled due to the pandemic. Compared to the typical rate seen in May from 2017 to 2019, sellers added 23.3% fewer newly listed homes last month.

The nation's 50 largest metros gained 12.4% new listings compared to last year in May, over twice the average national rate. Many of the metros that saw the largest gains were cities that were impacted by the pandemic first such as Buffalo, N.Y., up 64.3%, Philadelphia (+52.5%) and Washington, D.C.(+48.9%).

Homes sold more than a month faster than last year

With less than half the amount of homes for sale than this time last year, prospective homeowners are feeling the pressure to move quickly with average time on market reaching a new low in May at 39 days. This is 32 days faster than last year. Homes sold 19 days faster on  average in May, compared to 2017 to 2019. May home sales were fastest in Rochester, N.Y., which saw a median 11 days on market, and Columbus, Ohio (13 days) and Denver (14 days).

May 2021 Housing Overview by Top 50 Largest Metros

Metro	Median Listing Price	Median Listing Price YoY	Active Listing Count YoY	New Listing Count YoY	Median Days on Market	Median Days on Market Y-Y (Days)
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga.	$390,000	16.6%	-61.6%	-5.1%	33	-23
Austin-Round Rock, Texas	$499,000	32.2%	-69.8%	6.6%	26	-25
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, Md.	$350,000	2.9%	-49.2%	25.4%	34	-23
Birmingham-Hoover, Ala.	$279,000	3.9%	-53.6%	-2.0%	40	-24
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass.-N.H.	$700,000	11.1%	-31.5%	26.8%	22	-32
Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, N.Y.	$247,000	6.5%	-34.4%	64.3%	35	-35
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, N.C.-S.C.	$390,000	11.4%	-62.6%	-11.8%	28	-29
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Ill.-Ind.-Wis.	$355,000	7.6%	-40.1%	8.3%	36	-23
Cincinnati, Ohio-Ky.-Ind.	$365,000	12.3%	-47.7%	-7.2%	32	-20
Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio	$220,000	1.8%	-39.7%	48.1%	36	-31
Columbus, Ohio	$309,000	-5.0%	-40.3%	41.6%	13	-37
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas	$380,000	8.6%	-68.1%	-15.9%	31	-24
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colo.	$595,000	8.4%	-61.9%	-4.6%	14	-27
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Mich.	$280,000	11.1%	-51.0%	2.8%	22	-45
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn.	$310,000	5.4%	-28.3%	15.0%	30	-31
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas	$360,000	12.5%	-53.6%	-2.4%	38	-26
Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Ind.	$275,000	-7.8%	-55.5%	6.9%	37	-21
Jacksonville, Fla.	$349,000	9.4%	-70.5%	-3.8%	38	-29
Kansas City, Mo.-Kan.	$345,000	-1.4%	-49.6%	10.8%	40	-24
Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nev.	$390,000	18.5%	-52.3%	14.2%	24	-31
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif.	$1,049,000	14.6%	-29.9%	17.9%	46	-21
Louisville/Jefferson County, Ky.-Ind.	$275,000	-5.1%	-51.3%	14.0%	25	-32
Memphis, Tenn.-Miss.-Ark.	$237,000	-5.2%	-52.2%	6.0%	37	-23
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Fla.	$426,000	7.0%	-50.4%	12.6%	66	-39
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis.	$315,000	-16.0%	-47.5%	20.7%	35	-16
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis.	$360,000	-2.7%	-45.5%	0.5%	32	-10
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, Tenn.	$416,000	7.9%	-71.0%	-31.7%	14	-23
New Orleans-Metairie, La.	$340,000	13.5%	-48.9%	7.4%	50	-23
New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa.	$625,000	8.7%	-10.6%	46.2%	55	-17
Oklahoma City, Okla.	$290,000	8.4%	-63.7%	-26.7%	42	-7
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla.	$340,000	7.9%	-62.7%	1.5%	38	-29
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md.	$340,000	8.9%	-34.5%	52.5%	38	-35
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.	$450,000	17.1%	-64.8%	10.8%	29	-22
Pittsburgh, Pa.	$269,000	N/A	-47.4%	7.1%	43	-48
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Ore.-Wash.	$550,000	12.3%	-50.8%	19.9%	32	-20
Providence-Warwick, R.I.-Mass.	$400,000	0.0%	-54.4%	19.2%	29	-34
Raleigh, N.C.	$410,000	9.4%	-76.2%	-23.5%	20	-39
Richmond, Va.	$352,000	0.9%	-51.5%	29.1%	38	-17
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.	$520,000	21.5%	-58.9%	12.7%	31	-35
Rochester, N.Y.	$245,000	-3.8%	-37.5%	30.0%	11	-45
Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade, Calif.	$585,000	15.9%	-53.6%	4.1%	27	-16
San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas	$315,000	4.8%	-68.2%	-6.5%	36	-28
San Diego-Carlsbad, Calif.	$825,000	10.1%	-27.3%	14.0%	38	-6
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Calif.	$1,078,000	8.1%	-28.1%	22.0%	29	-7
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.	$1,298,000	8.3%	-27.3%	39.8%	28	-9
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.	$680,000	11.5%	-48.5%	24.3%	28	-8
St. Louis, Mo.-Ill.	$255,000	2.2%	-43.9%	18.5%	46	-24
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.	$335,000	17.6%	-69.4%	-1.6%	34	-32
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C.	$320,000	-1.5%	-50.5%	10.7%	21	-34
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-Va.-Md.-W. Va.	$510,000	0.0%	-26.2%	48.9%	30	-14

*Some data for Pittsburgh has been excluded due to data quality.

About Realtor.com^®

Realtor.com^® makes buying, selling, renting and living in homes easier and more rewarding for everyone. Realtor.com^® pioneered the world of digital real estate more than 20 years ago, and today through its website and mobile apps is a trusted source for the information, tools and professional expertise that help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. Using proprietary data science and machine learning technology, Realtor.com^® pairs buyers and sellers with local agents in their market, helping take the guesswork out of buying and selling a home. For professionals, Realtor.com^® is a trusted provider of consumer connections and branding solutions that help them succeed in today's on-demand world. Realtor.com^® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS®. For more information, visit Realtor.com^®.

Media Contact
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¹ The first time was February 2021, which was affected by extreme weather events, and not the start of a new trend.

 

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SOURCE Realtor.com

FAQ

What is the median home price as of May 2021?

The median home price in May 2021 reached an all-time high of $380,000.

How much did new listings increase in May 2021?

New listings increased by 5.4% year-over-year in May 2021.

What is the average time on market for homes in May 2021?

The average time on market for homes in May 2021 was 39 days.

How does the median home price growth in May 2021 compare to April 2021?

The median home price growth slowed to 15.2% year-over-year in May, down from 17.2% in April.

Which U.S. metro areas saw the largest home price increases in May 2021?

Austin, Texas (+32.2%), Riverside, California (+21.5%), and Las Vegas (+18.5%) saw the largest price increases.