Local Markets Report-Median Price

Sub-4% mortgage rates and five years of flat or falling home prices have driven affordability conditions to record highs. Combined with improving consumer confidence and a warm spring, sales surged in the 1st quarter posting the strongest 1st quarter figures since 2007. The result was upward pressure on prices which grew in more than 50% of the metro markets monitored by NAR Research in the 1st quarter of 2012. At the top of the list was Cape Coral, Florida where the median home price jumped 28.1% over the 4-quarter period ending in the 1st quarter of 2012. Three more markets from Florida made the list of top-10 in term of price growth, but the Midwest, Peoria and Ft. Wayne, as well as Upstate New York, Erie and Elmira, were also well represented.

For more information on price trends in local housing markets, see the Local Market Reports for the 1st quarter of 2012.