A new analysis of 125 metropolitan areas found that Americans who sold their homes in March sold them for an average of $30,500 more than they originally paid for them. That’s the highest average price gain of any month since December 2007, according to the report from RealtyTrac. Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac’s senior vice president, says the numbers should be encouraging to current homeowners. “Home sellers in many markets are now seeing average price gains close to or above what home sellers experienced during the last housing boom,” Blomquist said. “That should encourage more homeowners to take advantage of the prime seller’s market and list their homes for sale this year. Banks are already taking advantage of that market as evidenced by the uptick in the distressed sales share over the last two quarters.” Though home price gains may seem like bad news for prospective buyers, the more homeowners who put their homes up for sale this year, the better the market will be for buyers. That’s because, home prices are largely driven by a lack of available homes for sale. As more homes become available, buyers will have more choices and more negotiating power – which will help moderate future price gains and balance the market. More here.
