--- title: Home Prices Just Reached a Record High — but Sellers Aren't Happy description: 'The spring housing market is in a standoff: Home prices are at a record high at the same time that home sales hit a near-decade low.' authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Housing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2024-06-14T19:04:37.000Z' modified: '2024-06-14T19:04:37.000Z' section: Housing tags: - News word_count: 517 canonical: https://money.com/home-prices-record-high/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![An arrow breaking through the roof of a house.](https://img.money.com/2024/06/News-Home-Prices-Record-High.jpg) The housing market is somehow both hot *and* cold at the moment, with home prices reaching a record high at the same time sales have dropped to a near-decade low. A confluence of factors is causing a standoff in the housing market this spring. Many homeowners are reluctant to sell because they feel locked into sub-4% [mortgage rates](https://money.com/current-mortgage-rates/) they snagged years ago — and which they’d have to swap for rates around 7% if they bought another house now. Aspiring homebuyers, meanwhile, view the market as overpriced and out of reach, largely because of those same high mortgage rates. Their caution, mixed with general unaffordability, is resulting in plunging sales. More specifically, here are some key data points — from recent [Redfin](https://www.redfin.com/news/home-sales-fall-to-near-record-low/) and [Zillow](https://www.zillow.com/research/may-2024-market-report-34136/) reports — showing how the market is faring lately, and why there’s reason for frustration among buyers and sellers (and realtors) alike: - The median U.S. home sales price reached an all-time high of $439,716 in May, up 5.1% year over year. - The typical mortgage payment for a homebuyer in May was $2,829, down slightly from the record high the month before. - New home listings are up 13% compared to a year ago. However, inventory is still low in the grand scheme, down 34% versus pre-pandemic levels. - Sellers seem to be testing the waters with astronomical asking prices that scare off buyers: 23.9% of homes for sale in May got a price cut, which is the highest share for the month in at least six years. - U.S. home sales totaled 407,959 in May, the third-lowest tally in the last decade, during what’s usually a hot month for real estate. ## Where home values are rising (and falling) most The market doesn’t clearly favor buyers or sellers right now. In its May report, Zillow stated that the environment “is becoming a bit friendlier for buyers and is headed toward ‘neutral’ territory, but sellers still hold a slight advantage.” "Buyers are sitting in a bittersweet market right now," Ralph McLaughlin, a Realtor.com senior economist, said in [a report](https://www.realtor.com/news/real-estate-news/mortgage-rates-housing-statistics-week-6-6-2024/) recently. "They have the most options since before the COVID-19 pandemic but are stymied because of rising prices and stubbornly high mortgage rates.” If there’s one group that’s content with the market, it’s homeowners who are happy with where they’re living and have no inclination to sell. After years of price growth, owners are enjoying [record high home equity](https://money.com/record-high-home-equity/), which can be tapped into via a [home equity loan or line of credit](https://money.com/heloc-vs-home-equity-loan/) if needed. Zillow reports that home values are up year over year in 46 out of the 50 biggest metropolitan areas. Here’s where they’ve risen the most in the last 12 months: - San Jose, California: +12.7% - Hartford, Connecticut: +11.6% - San Diego, California: +11.1% - Los Angeles, California: +8.9% - Boston, Massachusetts: +8.3% And here’s where home prices are down the most in the last 12 months: - New Orleans, Louisiana: -5.9% - Austin, Texas: -4.1% - San Antonio, Texas: -2.2% ## Buy your new home with more convenience and less hassle ### A Mortgage Expert at Rocket Mortgage (NMLS #3030) can lend you a hand for a smoother process. Your dream home is possible. Click below to make it happen. [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/u918d32af718?ap_referrer=%2Fhome-prices-record-high%2F) ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/26681/medium_57f09f10-efb8-487d-a73e-5f7d605144eb.png) Imagine finally owning your dream home — Rocket Mortgage (NMLS #3030) can help! [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/t39f99e0e0ab?ap_referrer=%2Fhome-prices-record-high%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/home-prices-record-high/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Housing", "item": "https://money.com/housing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Home Buying", "item": "https://money.com/home-buying/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Home Prices Just Reached a Record High — but Sellers Aren't Happy" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/home-prices-record-high/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/home-prices-record-high/", "name": "Home Prices Just Reached a Record High — but Sellers Aren't Happy", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-06-14T19:04:37.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/home-prices-record-high/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/home-prices-record-high/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-06-14T19:04:37.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Home Prices Just Reached a Record High — but Sellers Aren't Happy", "articleSection": "Housing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2024/06/News-Home-Prices-Record-High.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Home-Prices-Record-High" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2024-06-14T19:04:37.000Z", "description": "The spring housing market is in a standoff: Home prices are at a record high at the same time that home sales hit a near-decade low.", "abstract": "The spring housing market is in a standoff: Home prices are at a record high at the same time that home sales hit a near-decade low.", "@id": "https://money.com/home-prices-record-high/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-06-14T19:04:37.000Z", "wordCount": 517, "keywords": [ "News" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Housing in the United States", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_in_the_United_States" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Real estate", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_estate" ] } ] } ] } ```