RealtyTrac® recently released its August 2013 U.S. Residential & Foreclosure Sales Report, which shows that U.S. residential properties, including single family homes and condominiums and townhomes, sold at an estimated annualized pace of 5.6 million in August, up 2 percent from the 5.5 million pace in July and up 12 percent from the 5.0 million pace in August 2012.
The national median sales price in August was $175,000, up 3 percent from the previous month and up 6 percent from a year ago — the 17th consecutive month where median home prices have increased annually nationwide.
The median price of a distressed residential property — in foreclosure or bank owned — in August was $116,000, up 1 percent from the previous month, but down 3 percent from a year ago. Median distressed prices have now declined on an annual basis for six consecutive months including August.
“Seven years after the housing bubble burst, U.S. home prices are clearly on the rise again, up 23 percent from the bottom in March 2012 although still 26 below the peak of the housing price bubble in August 2006,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “This recovery in home prices and sales volume continues to be driven in large part by cash buyers and institutional investors, as evidenced by the increasing share of sales represented by those two categories in August.”
