Home Price And Sales Growth Are Up In Fastest March On Record

Sales growth was up 8.9 percent year-over-year to 243,000 homes sold and prices increased 7.5 percent on an annual basis to a national median price of $273,000 last month.

Redfin reports that the typical home went under contract in 49 days in March, which makes it the fastest March since the site began tracking the data in 2010. Nearly one-in-five homes went under contract within two weeks. Denver, Seattle and the Bay Area were among the fastest markets.

Grand Rapids, Mich., had the highest price growth at 16.3 percent since last year. Orlando, Fla., Santa Rosa, Calif., and Seattle had similar increases. Also, 32 of 90 metros had double-digit sales increases from last year, with Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Baltimore, and Camden, N.J. leading the way.

Rochester, NY had the largest inventory decline, falling 39.0% since last March. Buffalo, NY (-34.5%), Rochester, NH (-33.2%), and Portsmouth, NH (-31.4%) also had far fewer homes available on the market than a year ago.

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