Home prices continue to increase although the pace of price appreciation has slowed. As of June 2018, the national median sales price of existing homes sold rose to a peak of $276,900, the highest level since 20001 when NAR started tracking this data. However, the pace of appreciation has been slowing. In June 2018, the national median sales price rose 5.2 percent on a year-on-year basis (2.2 percent on an inflation-adjusted basis), a slower rate of growth compared to the price appreciation of near or above 10 percent in 2013.

The question is: will home prices continue to increase? One way to think about this is to compare the price appreciation with days on market. If properties continue to sell at a faster pace, this means that demand continues to outpace supply, and there continues to be an upward pressure on prices. However, if properties are increasingly staying on the market longer, then this means that supply is starting to outpace demand, causing prices to fall. As of June 2018, the median list price increased compared to one year ago in 419 metro areas tracked by Realtor.com (414 in June 2017). Meanwhile, properties sold faster compared to one year ago in 495 metro areas (395 in June 2017).

The data visualization below shows the year-on-year change in median list price (Y-axis) against the year-on-year change in days on market (X-axis). Most metro areas lie on the upper left quadrant where the median list prices rose and the median days on market fell in June 2018 compared to one year ago. There are only three metro areas where days on market rose and median list prices fell: Johnston, PA; Enid, OK, and Minot, ND.

In the high price metro areas, the median list prices rose compared to one year ago, but they have slightly declined compared to May 2018 levels. In San Jose-Sunnyvale, the median list price rose compared to one year ago (14.7 percent), but the median list price decreased compared to the May 2018 level (-3 percent). In San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA, median prices rose compared to one year ago (8.7 percent) but also slightly declined from the May 2018 level (-0.4 percent). In Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA, the median list price also rose compared to one year ago (5.2 percent) but declined compared to the May 2018 level (-0.5 percent).

In summary, in many areas, demand is still outpacing supply, so there is still upward pressure on prices for now in many metro areas, although prices have started to trend downwards modestly in high-price metro areas (e.g., San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles). Affordability challenges, rising interest rates, and the modest increase in housing starts are likely exerting a downward pressure on prices. However, over the longer-term, there is still the upward demographic demand pressure from those in the 35-44 age groups (mostly millennials) who will increasingly get older, get married, have better incomes, and start forming households and buying homes. The U.S. Census Bureau projects the number of 35-44 year-old adults to increase from 41.3 million in 2018 to 47.2 million in 2028.

This blog was written by NAR Research’s intern, Bronwen Leibe.

Hi again, it’s me, the research intern! Let’s take a closer look at this year’s member profile!

In the 2018 NAR Member Profile, females still make up 63 percent of all REALTORS®. This remains notably constant throughout years of experience (girl power!). Females dominate the profession, except in function breakdown; they make up a smaller percentage of broker-owners, managers with selling, and appraisers.

The median age of REALTORS® for 2018 is 54 years old. Although, there has been a slight increase in younger REALTORS® (30 years old and younger) to 5 percent.  The consistent largest age group, those 65 years and older, has increased from 17 percent to 20 percent of all REALTORS®. As a large population embarks on retirement, there will be the need for other generations to enter into the industry.

Interestingly, REALTORS® aged 45 to 54 are a larger portion with 2 or less years of experience than REALTORS® aged 30 years old and younger. Are people coming from other occupations? Well, only five percent of REALTORS® reported real estate was their first career. With 95 percent coming from another occupation, were their previous jobs helpful to a transition in real estate? Thirty-two percent of REALTORS® had a previous career in management, business, finance or sales/retail. To me, those industries’ skills are reasonably applicable to real estate.

Conjointly, education at all levels is a valuable asset for an occupation. Thirty percent of REALTORS® have had some college education, 13 percent have their Associate’s Degree. A third of real estate agents have Bachelor Degrees, while 13 percent have a graduate degree. Nonetheless, investment in your occupation is just as noteworthy as investment in your education. Seventy-two percent of REALTORS® said that real estate was their only occupation— showing that agents heavily invest their time into the industry. In fact, a considerable majority of 52 percent work 40 or more hours per week.  On top of working in real estate, two-thirds of NAR members volunteer in their communities! Already, REALTORS® play a big role in community building and it is admirable that NAR members are contributing outside of their occupation.