Realtor.com® Report: 2014 Property Starts Strong

The polar vortex is proving to be no sweat for home buyers, according to the latest National Housing Trend Report from realtor.com®.

Despite severe cold months conditions across the nation, the 2014 real estate season got off to a good beginning using a year-over-year improvement in inventory and sustained growth in home prices.

The median list price for January rose 8.3 % in comparison to the same time not too long ago, good realtor.com® data. The number of properties available for purchase was up 3.1 percent. Along with the median day of inventory was essentially unchanged, indicating a transition to your “less frenzied market” than in January 2013.

The solid start “is surely an encouraging sign of sellers’ interest, particularly given the adverse conditions caused by the polar vortex,” said Errol Samuelson, president of realtor.com®. “We saw the tight-supply market of last fall carry all the way into November — later than is typically expected — and this also early rise in inventory is a welcome trend.”

Looking ahead, the nation's median existing home price is projected to rise about 5 percent to percent in 2014, in line with the National Association of REALTORS®, which cites job growth and large, pent-up demand as drivers of the market in light of rising mortgage rates.

The California, Detroit and Nevada markets continue to top the list of areas while using largest year-over-year increases in median list prices, boasting increases of 20 % or even more.

Nevertheless the polar vortex took a toll using some aspects of the world. Strong markets hit hard by cold weather — like Boston, Chicago and Detroit — saw nearly ten percent month-over-month declines in inventory. Once winter weather subsides, however, these markets can experience a powerful recovery, realtor.com® analysts said.

National Perspective

Inventory increasing: In the national level, for-sale inventories are actually 3.1 percent higher than these folks were last year, and the rise in inventory is spreading to more markets nationally. In January 2013, just eight markets from the 146 registered increases in inventory. This January, 83 from the 143 markets tracked by realtor.com (58 percent) showed increases in inventory, year over year. While the next few months is going to be critical to look at, these trends suggest an even more balanced housing market entering the 2014 property season.

Price increases more widespread: Median list price rose a wholesome 8.3 % in January 2014 than the same time a year ago. In January 2014, 44 markets saw year-over-year list price increases of 10 % or more, when compared with January 2013, when 24 markets registered double-digit increases in median list price. How many declining markets when it comes to median list price dropped from 58 in January 2013 to just 13 in January 2014.

Days on market stabilizing: Median chronilogical age of inventory remained steady in January 2014 than the same time last year, at 115 days. However, the amount of markets showing year-over-year declines in inventory has dropped significantly, from 133 markets in January 2013 to 78 markets in January 2014. Meanwhile, 56 markets showed year-over-year increases in inventory in January 2014, in comparison with just nine markets in January 2013.

Local Market Highlights

California, Detroit and Nevada markets continue to dominate the list of areas experiencing the largest year-over-year increases in median list prices, with increases of 20 % or more.

Moving into the spring months, it is important to watch for markets with a possible resurgence, such as Denver, Boulder, Chicago and Corpus Christi, TX, where depressed inventories happen to be along with large year-over-year gains in median list prices. Sustained low inventories of these markets could to lead to demand-driven housing price increases that characterized California and many with the sand states in 2013.

Strong markets particularly worth noting as those worst hit by climate-driven troubles include Boston which has a 10.9 percent month-over-month inventory decline, Chicago using a 6.1 percent inventory drop, Denver using a striking 13.5 percent inventory decline, Detroit having a 6.8 percent reduction, Ny which has a 9.5 percent decline, and Philadelphia through an 8.2 percent decline. These markets can experience notable inventory recovery after prohibitive conditions subside.

Realtor.com® regularly tracks real property data and develops monthly reports featuring the quantity of listings, median era of inventory and median list price through the U.S. and specific markets, and also provides year-over-year and month-over-month changes. These reports are classified as the only ones pulled straight from the realtor.com® database, where 90 percent of listings are updated every 15 minutes from a lot more than 800 MLSs. We regularly review increase historical data so as to supply the most accurate and comprehensive market information available. More resources for Move, check out www.move.com a treadmill of the company's many online real-estate properties including realtor.com®.