Strong sales and lack of supply kept house prices high in the US throughout 2017

An uptick in existing home sales in the United States in the final three months of 2017 pulled down housing inventory to an all-time low and kept price growth at its recent robust pace, the latest index report shows. The national median existing single family home price in the fourth quarter was $247,800, up 5.3% from the fourth quarter of 2016, according to the quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors. The data also shows that single family home prices increased in 92% of markets in the final quarter of 2017 with 162 out of 177 metropolitan statistical areas1 (MSAs) showing sales price gains year on year.