March Data: Spring On the High Prices, Low Inventory

The housing market’s high/low dynamic continued uninterrupted at the start of the spring homebuying season, with home prices hitting another record high and inventory still low in March, according to a data preview from realtor.com®. The median list price in March will push past $250,000—where it has hovered since May 2016—to $260,000, while new listings will total 492,000, up 2 percent from February but down 13 percent year-over-year.

“Calendars might say spring is only a week old, but we’re already in the thick of the most frenzied spring home-buying season on record,” says Javier Vivas, manager of Economic Research at realtor.com. “The median days on market for homes on realtor.com in March saw the biggest drop since the end of the recession, and half of homes are now selling in less than 69 days nationally. Low inventory continues to be a significant problem, but record-high prices are also keeping waves of buyers at bay.”

Realtor.com expects the median age of inventory to be 69 days in March, thudding down a whopping 24 percent from February.

The markets with the most spring in their step, according to the Realtor.com Hotness Index—based on realtor.com views—are: