Home Prices Up As Supply Plunges

Median home prices rose in the United States in March by 7.7 percent year over year, but for-sales listing plunged from a year ago, according to Redfin.

Listings were especially lower year over year in the Kansas City area, which saw a 46.1-percent drop in homes available for sale. That is more  than three times the national average drop of 12.5 percent year over year.

The national home price average was at $303,200, and there was also an increase month over month of 3.3 percent. In March there were 511,000 homes sold across the country, a month-over-month drop of 9.1 percent, which is unusual for the time of year, due to challenges in the economy due to COVID-19.

“The impacts of the coronavirus hit the economy hard in mid-March, as we have been reporting in our weekly data, but it’s good to step back and take an aggregated look at the market,” said Redfin lead economist Taylor Marr, in a press release. “Real estate activities nearly ground to a halt in some parts of the country by the end of March, disrupted by shelter in place laws. Right now, sellers need to decide if they’ll list their home for sale among all the economic uncertainty.”