RealtyTrac, the nation’s leading source for comprehensive housing data, released its Year-End 2015 U.S. Home Sales Report, which shows that U.S. home sellers in 2015 realized an average price gain since purchase of 11 percent, the biggest average price gain since 2007 — an eight-year high.
The 11-percent average price gain in 2015 marked the second consecutive year in which U.S. home sellers realized an average price gain following six consecutive years during which U.S. home sellers realized average price losses.
“…The 2015 home sales data paints the picture of a properly functioning U.S. housing market where homeowners can once again count on real estate as an appreciating asset — a long-touted axiom soundly debunked as ironclad truth between 2008 and 2013,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.
“This return to consistent home price gains for sellers should reinforce confidence in real estate in 2016 and produce another year of solid sales volume as homeowners cash out their equity gains.”
Among 155 U.S. counties analyzed for the report, those where 2015 home sellers realized the highest average price gains were San Mateo County, California, in the San Francisco metro area (65 percent average home price gains for 2015 home sellers); Alameda County, California, also in the San Francisco metro area (64 percent average gain); Santa Clara County, California, in the San Jose metro area (63 percent average gain); Middlesex County, New Jersey, in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area (52 percent average gain); and Multnomah County, Oregon, in the Portland metro area (49 percent average gain).
The U.S. median home price at the end of 2015 was up 10 percent from a year ago. December was the 46th consecutive month with a year-over-year increase in the U.S. median home price.
Among 87 major metropolitan statistical areas analyzed for the report, 79 (91 percent) posted a year-over-year increase in median home price at the end of 2015.
Taken from the California Association of Realtors.
— Alec Bruice is a licensed real estate broker with Santa Barbara Brokers and the 2016 president of the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors. Contact him at alec@goodland-realty.com or 805.637.5774. The opinions expressed are his own.