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By Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy
The housing market may be cooling overall, but home prices in 70% of metros still increased, according to the National Association of Realtors’ new quarterly report. Even as 30-year fixed mortgage rates remained elevated − fluctuating between 6.1% and 6.7% in the first quarter − 7% of the 221 tracked metro areas registered double-digit price increases over the same period. That was down from 18% in the fourth quarter of 2022. Compared to a year ago, the national median single-family existing-home price decreased 0.2% to $371,200. “Generally speaking, home prices are lower in expensive markets and higher in affordable markets, implying greater mortgage rate sensitivity for high-priced homes,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.