At this point last year, inventory was down and prices were up, prompting the Movoto Real Estate Blog to declare it a seller’s market. What a difference a year makes. While prices last month were up to the tune of 7.3 percent compared to May 2013 across the markets we survey, it’s the 15.4 percent year-over-year increase in inventory that really stands out.
There were 104,157 homes on the market last month compared to 90,264 the year before. By comparison, the total inventory index actually decrease by 22.9 percent between May 2012 and May 2013.
Mesa, AZ led 28 other cities that saw year-over-year inventory increases with a nearly 83 percent jump in available homes.
On the list price per square foot front, that index climbed 7.3 percent from $172 in May 2013 to $184 last month, led by a 27.6 percent increase in the price per square foot for properties in Chicago, IL. Between May 2012 and 2013, the index climbed 15 percent from $156 to $179.
San Francisco remains the most expensive market we survey on a price per square foot basis at $720, the next closest being Washington, D.C. at $478 and Los Angeles, CA at $452. This can be directly linked to high demand and low inventory in the market, the latter being down 8.3 percent over the same time last year.
How This Report Is Made
When building Movoto’s monthly State of the Real Estate Market report, we look at 37 geographically diverse cities in order to determine total inventory levels and a median price per square foot index. In addition, we further break down this data on a year-over-year basis. The data used comes from each city’s Multiple Listing Service.
Median List Price Per Square Foot Index
Year-Over-Year
Compared to May 2013, the median list price per square foot index rose 7.3 percent last month from $172 to $184. Prices increased in 36 of the 37 markets we survey for this report, decreasing in two.
The three cities that saw the largest increase in median price per square foot index year-over-year were:
- Chicago, IL: The median list price per square foot in the Windy City climbed 27.6 percent last month compared to May 2013, from $185 to $185.
- Houston, TX: Everything’s bigger in this Texas metro, including list prices. At $102, the median list price there increased 27.5 percent over May 2013 when it was $80.
- Nashville, TN: Music City’s prices probably aren’t something buyers want to hear. They increase from $113 to $134 between May 2013 and last month, a change of 18.6 percent.
Total Inventory Level
Year-Over-Year
Total inventory increased by 15.4 percent from 90,264 in May 2013 to 104,157 last month across the 37 markets we survey, a difference of 13,893 homes.
The three cities that saw the largest increase in year-over-year inventory for May were:
- Mesa, AZ: Inventory in this Phoenix suburb increased from 967 homes in May 2013 to 1,765 last month, a difference of 798 properties or 82.5 percent.
- Las Vegas, NV: Sin City’s inventory soared 68.8 percent from 3,643 homes in May 2013 to 6,149 for an increase of 2,506 properties on the market.
- Fresno, CA: This Central Valley metro saw its available properties grow by 403 or 68.5 percent between May 2013 and last month, from 588 to 991 homes for sale.
Texas markets continue to lag behind the rest of the nation in terms of inventory, which explains why median list prices in the state are rising on average.
