Home Prices Register Biggest Annual Increase In More Than A Year: Report

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The median home sales price in the United States jumped 2.4 percent in April from a year ago, the largest increase since March 2025, real estate brokerage Redfin said in a May 12 statement.

The company attributed the price increase to more buyers entering the housing market amid a stabilizing job market. In April, the United States added 115,000 jobs, well above the expected 62,000.

“The April jobs report showed stronger-than-expected hiring, reducing recession risk. This likely helped fuel a pop in housing demand. Pending home sales hit the highest level since February 2023 last month, rising 2 percent from the month before—the largest increase since March 2025,” Redfin said.

In addition to buyers coming off the sidelines, sellers are also doing the same, with active listings of homes for sale in April hitting the highest level since March 2020.

Lower mortgage rates are incentivizing prospective buyers to consider purchases. Last year, the weekly average rate of the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage had hit an annual peak of 7.04 percent in mid-January, according to data from Freddie Mac.

The rate has come down to 6.37 percent for the week ending May 6. It had declined below the 6 percent level in February, the first time this has happened since September 2022.

Amid the jump in home sale prices in April, discounts offered on home purchases are tapering, Redfin said.

Last month, the share of homes sold for less than their original listed price was 60.5 percent—the sixth straight month of decline. According to the brokerage, securing discounts is getting harder as demand grows and sellers price homes more competitively.

“Homebuyer demand increased significantly at the end of March following a relatively quiet period in January and February. This is the first time post-pandemic I’ve felt the frenzy and comeback of a true spring market,” said Dawn Kane, a Redfin Premier real estate agent.

“Still, sellers must maintain realistic pricing strategies. Market data and buyer activity indicate that overpriced homes remain on the market longer, while competitively priced properties sell more quickly and efficiently, often receiving multiple offers.”

In a May 6 post, real estate marketplace Zillow suggested that if mortgage rates were to fall back to the 6 percent range seen earlier this year, home sales figures could improve.

Prospective buyers who saw through last year’s markets now have more options and improved affordability while choosing their homes. Last month, the monthly mortgage payment on a typical U.S. home declined 3.4 percent year over year to $1,829, Zillow said.

Housing Construction, Improving Affordability

On the construction side, housing construction “bounced back” in March, with builders ramping up production, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said in an April 29 statement.

NAHB Chairman Bill Owens said that the rebound suggests builders are responding to regional improvements in housing demand despite affordability challenges.

Privately owned housing construction starts had risen by 10.8 percent in March from a year back, according to April 29 data from the Census Bureau. This uptick in housing starts could be a positive signal that the sector may be stabilizing, Owens said.

“Single-family starts drove much of the monthly increase, indicating that builders are cautiously ramping up production to meet persistent inventory shortages in the resale market,” said Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington, NAHB’s assistant vice president for forecasting and analysis.

“While this is an encouraging sign, the pace of construction is likely to remain measured as builders continue to navigate elevated financing costs and labor availability.”

The Trump administration has taken various measures to improve housing affordability.

In late April, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Agriculture revoked a policy on energy standards for newly built single-family and multifamily homes.

If the standards were enforced, home construction costs would have risen by $20,000 to $31,000, HUD said. This could have pushed many first-time buyers out of the housing market.

Last month, HUD announced that the Federal Housing Administration has joined with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to implement new mortgage credit score models that seek to make home buying more affordable.

“This historic move is intended to lower costs for the American people after years of rising prices under the status quo credit score system,” the department said.