What's the Median Home Value in Your State?

If you’ve entered the real estate market as a buyer or a seller, you’ve inevitably heard the mantra “location, location, location” in reference to identical homes increasing or decreasing in value based on where they’re located. In today’s housing market where home prices are appreciating quickly, it’s important to know that not every home appreciates at the same rate. The map below demonstrates that point on a state-by-state basis using data from the National Association of Realtors. Demand often dictates value, even for houses in the same area of the country! High demand for starter and trade-up homes have driven prices up in these categories by nearly 10% over the past year, while those in the premium markets have appreciated at closer to 6%. Bottom Line If you are debating whether or not to buy and/or sell a home this year, let’s get together to help you figure out exactly what’s going on in our market.

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Are Home Values Really Overinflated?

Last week, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) released their most recent Existing Home Sales Report. According to the report: “The median existing-home price for all housing types in January was $240,500, up 5.8 percent from January 2017 ($227,300). January’s price increase marks the 71st straight month of year-over-year gains.” Seventy-one consecutive months of price increases may have some concerned that current home values may be overinflated. However, at the same time, Zillow issued a press release which revealed: “If the housing bubble and bust had not happened, and home values had instead appreciated at a steady pace, the median home value would be higher than its current value.” Here are two graphs that help show why home prices are exactly where they should be. The first graph shows actual median home sales prices from 2000 through 2017. By itself, this graph could heighten concerns as it shows home values rose in the early 2000s, came tumbling down and are now headed up again. It gives the feel of a rollercoaster ride that is about to take another turn downward. However, if we also include where prices would naturally be, had there not been a boom & bust, we see a different story. The blue bars on this graph represent where prices would be if they had increased by the normal annual appreciation rate (3.6%). By adding 3.6% to the actual 2000 price and repeating that for each subsequent year, we can see that prices were overvalued during the boom, undervalued during the bust, and a little bit LOWER than where they should be right now. Bottom Line Based on historic appreciation levels, we should be very comfortable that current home values are not overinflated. You might also enjoy reading… Mortgage Rates on FIRE! Home Prices Up in Smoke? Top 5 Reasons to Hire a Real Estate Professional When Buying or Selling! Should I Wait Until Next Year to Buy? Or Buy Now? [INFOGRAPHIC] 80% of Renters Believe Homeownership is a Part of Their American Dream

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