Housing Ablaze With Activity, Even as California Cools

Housing continues to be ablaze with activity, with off-the-charts prices and supply consumed at rapid-fire pace, according to the latest data preview from realtor.com®. Prices in May were 10 percent higher than those one year ago, with the national median at $275,000 and the national median age of inventory at 60 days—five days, or 8 percent, faster than one year ago. Inventory, though higher in May than in April, will still be down 11 percent.

“Last month there were more prospective buyers, and homes are selling more quickly than during any other May since the recession,” says Javier Vivas, manager of Economic Research at realtor.com. “For the first time, one in three homes nationwide are selling in under 30 days. The lack of affordable homes for sale remains a critical issue, particularly for a growing number of first-time homebuyers and millennials, who are lining up for starter homes but can’t break in.”

Red hot California again ruled realtor.com’s Hotness Index for May, though some markets are showing signs of fizzling—clearing a path, according to Vivas, for simmering markets, such as Boston, Mass., and Midland, Texas, to heat up. The markets topping the Index have more views per listing on realtor.com compared to the national average—sometimes three times more—and supply moving as much as 36 days faster than the national average.

“This is officially the most competitive, fastest-moving spring housing market in decades,” Vivas says. “Some places like the Bay Area have become too hot to handle—and now a lack of inventory and affordability are allowing other markets to catch up.”

The top 10 in the Hotness Index: