Sellers net largest equity gain in a decade in Q2 2017, report finds

Homeowners who sold their home in the second quarter of 2017 realized the largest average profit in 10 years, according to an analysis by the real estate data company RealtyTrac. The average homeownership tenure in the United States also increased to its longest term in a decade.

According to the company's latest U.S. Home Sales Report, the average homeowner who sold a residence between April and June saw a $51,000 price gain since their initial purchase. This was the strongest recorded gain since the second quarter of 2007, when the typical homeowner profited by $57,000.

This increase was also the highest percentage increase in a decade. The average profit represented a price gain of 26 percent, the strongest since a 27 percent increase recorded in the third quarter of 2007.

The fast-paced real estate markets in the West were most likely to have a high return on investment. Among the 118 metropolitan areas with at least 1,000 home sales during the quarter, the highest average return was 75 percent in San Jose, Calif. This was followed by 65 percent in San Francisco, 63 percent in Seattle, and 62 percent in Denver as well as Modesto, Calif.

The report included data from the three largest cities in Connecticut. RealtyTrac determined that sellers in the Bridgeport area had an average profit of $31,000, or 9.1 percent above the purchase price. Sellers had an average gain of 16.9 percent ($30,500) in Hartford and 15.3 percent ($26,750) in New Haven.

Daren Blomquist, senior vice president of RealtyTrac parent company ATTOM Data Solutions, said this development is a mixed blessing for sellers. While many homeowners are reaping a major profit from selling their home, they are also often facing higher prices, limited inventory, and more competition if they are buying another home.

"Potential home sellers in today's market are caught in a Catch-22," said Blomquist. "While it's the most profitable time to sell in a decade, it's also extremely difficult to find another home to purchase, which is helping to keep homeowners in their homes longer before selling. And the market is becoming even more competitive, with the share of cash buyers in the second quarter increasing annually for the first time in four years."

On average, homeowners who sold a property in the second quarter of 2017 had lived there for 8.05 years. This was the highest homeownership tenure since data became available in the first quarter of 2000, and was up from 7.85 years in the first quarter of 2017 and 7.59 years in the second quarter of 2016.

Bucking this trend, homeownership tenure fell in several cities including Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. Average homeownership tenure was longest in Boston at 11.91 years, just edging out Hartford at 11.9 years. Other cities with a long average homeownership tenure included Providence (10.28 years), San Francisco (9.87 years), and San Jose (9.71 years).

All-cash sales had their first year-overyear increase since the first quarter of 2013. Sales made to buyers who didn't need financing accounted for 28.9 percent of transactions in the second quarter of 2017, up from 27.3 percent in the second quarter of 2016 but down from 31.3 percent from the first quarter of 2017.

In metropolitan areas with a population of at least 1 million, all-cash sales were most common in Raleigh, N.C. A total of 57.4 percent of sales during the quarter in this city didn't require financing. This was followed by Miami (46.2 percent), Detroit (45.2 percent), Oklahoma City (44.6 percent), and Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla. (43.2 percent).

Individual investors, or those purchasing 10 or more properties in a calendar year, made up 2.1 percent of sales in the quarter. This was up from 1.8 percent in the previous quarter, but down from 2.6 percent in the previous quarter.

In the 73 metropolitan areas with a population of at least 200,000 and at least 40 individual investor sales in the year, investment purchases were up in 19 cities. The most prominent increases were in Raleigh, where investment purchases had a year-over-year increase of 42 percent, and