Home price growth in big cities has slowed, but not stalled, in the third quarter, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
The NAR, which looked at single-family home prices for around 185 cities in the U.S. for the latest quarter, found that prices grew in nearly every metro area.
“The median income needed to buy a typical home has risen to $88,300 – that’s almost $40,000 more than it was prior to the start of the pandemic, back in 2019,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR, said in a statement.
“The mortgage payment on a typical existing single-family home with a 20% down payment was $1,840, up 50% from a year ago.”
The monthly mortgage payment on a typical existing single-family home with a 20% down payment was $1,840, up 50% from a year ago, the NAR added.
Out of 185 markets, 181 saw prices grow in the third quarter, the NAR said. And compared to a year ago, the national median single-family existing-home price rose much more slowly at 8.6% to $398,500.
“The more expensive markets on the West Coast will likely experience some price declines following this rapid price appreciation, which is the result of many years of limited home building,” Yun said.
“The Midwest, with relatively affordable home prices, will likely continue to see price gains as incomes and rents both rise,” he added.
While home prices grew across America, the pace has slowed: Only 46% of metros posted double-digit annual price appreciation, compared to 80% in the last quarter, according to the NAR.
Higher mortgage rates, particularly with the 30-year above 7%, have hit buyers hard, and demand has plunged.
The most expensive markets in the U.S. were as follows:
| Rank | Metro area | Year-over-year price growth | Median price of a single-family existing home |
| 1 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara | 2.3% | $1.69 million |
| 2 | San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward | -3.7% | $1.3 million |
| 3 | Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine | 9.1% | $1.2 million |
| 4 | Urban Honolulu | 7.6% | $1.13 million |
| 5 | San Diego-Carlsbad | 5.9% | $900,000 |
| 6 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale | 3.8% | $893,200 |
| 7 | Boulder | 7.5% | $826,900 |
| 8 | Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island | 16.7% | $746,600 |
| 9 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue | 4.6% | $741,300 |
| 10 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton | 6.2% | $698,900 |
Where are prices still growing fast?
But price growth is still going strong in Florida.
Overall, the South had the biggest share of single-family existing-home sales, the NAR said, at 44%, and also saw the biggest year-over-year price growth at 11.9% in the third quarter.
Comparatively, the Midwest saw the slowest growth at 6.6%, followed by the West at 7.4%, and the Northeast at 8.2%.
These are the top 10 metro areas with the largest year-over-year price increases:
| Rank | Metro area | Year-over-year price growth | |
| 1 | North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton | 23.8% | |
| 2 | Lakeland-Winter Haven | 21.2% | |
| 3 | Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach | 21.1% | |
| 4 | Panama City | 20.5% | |
| 5 | Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach | 19.6% | |
| 6 | Port St. Lucie | 19.4% | |
| 7 | Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin | 18.9% | |
| 8 | Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol | 18.8% | |
| 9 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater | 18.8% | |
| 10 | Ocala | 18.8% |
Got thoughts on the housing market? Write to MarketWatch reporter Aarthi Swaminathan at [email protected]
