Sellers saw an average home price gain since purchase of $54,000, up from $47,133 a year ago. That $54,000 average seller profit represents an average 29.7 percent return on investment compared to the original purchase price. That is the highest average home seller return on investment since the third quarter of 2007, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ Q4 2017. Among the 155 metro areas that ATTOM Data Solutions’ tracked, the locales with the highest average home seller ROI were: San Jose, Calif. (90.9%); San Francisco (73.3%); Merced, Calif. (64.6%); Seattle (64.4%); and Santa Cruz, Calif. (59.8%).
Despite this news, we are experiencing record high home ownership tenure. Home Sales Homeowners who sold in the quarter had owned their homes on average 8.18 years, up from 7.78 years in the fourth quarter of 2016. It is the longest average home seller tenure since ATTOM Data Solutions has tracked it starting in the first quarter of 2000.
What does this means? Home owners are staying put instead of selling even though home seller profits have surged. It's often a catch 22 for the seller. Although they stand to make a substantial gain on their sale, they are then pushed into the buyer pool and find it difficult to replace the amenities, size of the home or location that they are accustomed to.
Source Attom Data Solutions