Rise of home sales prices

By Metro Creative

Home buyers must confront a host of variables in the best of times, but in recent years buyers have been forced to contend with a real estate market marked by a significant increase in home prices.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the median home sales price in the third quarter of 2023 was $431,000. That marks a significant increase since the start of 2020, when the median sales price was $329,000.

That 31% increase in a little less than four full years can be traced to a host of variables, not the least of which is the global COVID-19 pandemic, which officially earned that designation in early March 2020.

But the rise in home prices is not as recent a phenomenon as some may think. In fact, data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis indicates the median home sales price rose by 576% between 1980 and the third quarter of 2023.

— Metro Creative