US homes are staying on the market longer as the median price climbs
The median time on the market rose by four days in February from a year earlier. Read more on realestate.boston.com.
WASHINGTON — Softening demand is keeping US homes on the market longer, and homeowners appear to be thinking twice about listing their properties, according to the Zillow Real Estate Market Report for March.
The median time on the market rose by four days in February from a year earlier — the first increase in four years — resulting in a 1.2 percent rise in March inventories. New listings dropped 6.1 percent.
“More leftovers from previous months are sticking around,’’ said Skylar Olsen, director of economic research at Zillow. As the market cools, “fewer homeowners are putting their homes on the market,’’ Olsen said.
Moreover, price cuts are rising in 33 of 35 of the largest markets. In San Jose, Calif., the most expensive, prices dropped 0.2 percent from a year earlier — the first decline in four years in any of the top markets.
It’s also the first price cut in San Jose in seven years.
Nationally, the rate of price appreciation has slowed each month since peaking at 8 percent in December 2018.
Beyond San Jose, six major markets areas saw an annual gain of less than 3 percent in March: Baltimore, Washington, Seattle, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, San Francisco, and San Diego. Indianapolis, Atlanta, and Las Vegas paced gains with a year-over-year increase of at least 10 percent.
Across markets, home values grew 6.6 percent from a year earlier, sending the median home to $226,700, Zillow said.
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