ATTOM’s latest year-end 2022 home sales report shows that home sellers nationwide realized a profit of $112,000 on the typical sale in 2022, up 21 percent from $92,500 in 2021 and up 78 percent from $63,000 two years ago.
Despite a market slowdown in the second half of last year, profits rose from 2021 to 2022 in 98 percent of housing markets with enough data to analyze. The latest nationwide profit figure, based on median purchase and resale prices, marked the highest level in the United States since at least 2008.
The $112,000 profit on median-priced home sales in 2022 represented a 51.4 percent return on investment compared to the original purchase price, up from 44.6 percent last year and from 32.8 percent in 2020. The latest profit margin also represented a high point since at least 2008.
Both raw profits and ROI have improved nationwide for 11 straight years, shooting up again in 2022 as the national median home price increased 10 percent to $330,000 – yet another annual record.
At the same time, though, profits increased at a slower pace than in 2021, reflecting a year when the nation’s decade-long housing boom stalled. The national median home value dipped 8 percent over the second half of last year as home-mortgage rates doubled, consumer price inflation soared to a 40-year high and the stock market slumped.
Those forces cut into the amounts potential home buyers could afford, generating multiple headwinds that threaten to further erode the housing market, cutting demand and potentially pushing seller profits down. Total sales last year declined after rising in eight of the previous 10 years.
Prices up at least 10 percent in more than half the country as most markets again hit new highs
The U.S. median home price increased 10 percent in 2022, hitting another all-time annual high of $330,000.
The full-year median home-price appreciation in 2022 fell below the 17.6 percent nationwide gain in 2021. Still, the latest increase in the national median value remained among the best over the past decade. Since 2012, when the U.S. housing market was just starting to recover from the Great Recession of the late 2000s, the national median price has grown 120 percent.
Median prices rose from 2021 to 2022 in all but two of the 157 metropolitan statistical areas around the U.S. with a population of 200,000 or more and sufficient home price data in 2022. Values shot up at least 10 percent in 85 of those metros (54 percent). Those with the biggest year-over-year increases were in Florida, led by Naples, FL (median up 26.9 percent); Fort Myers, FL (up 26.7 percent); Lakeland, FL (up 25.7 percent); Port St. Lucie, FL (up 24.6 percent) and Ocala, FL (up 23.8 percent).
Profit margins increase in 90 percent of nation
Profit margins on typical home sales improved from 2021 to 2022 in 141 of the 157 metro areas with sufficient data to analyze (90 percent). That happened as the 10 percent jump in sale prices nationwide in 2022 surpassed the 5 percent increases recent sellers had been paying when they originally bought their homes.
Nine of the 10 largest increases in investment returns were in Florida, led by Fort Myers, FL (ROI up from 51 percent in 2021 to 85.4 percent in 2022); Ocala, FL (up from 49.7 percent to 82.4 percent); Naples, FL (up from 44.7 percent to 74.4 percent); Port St. Lucie, FL (up from 62.8 percent to 84.8 percent) and Miami, FL (up from 42.9 percent of 64.1 percent).
The biggest decreases in investment returns from 2021 to 2022 came in Salem, OR (ROI down from 82.7 percent to 43.1 percent); Atlanta, GA (down from 43.9 percent to 36 percent); Boise, ID (down from 75.9 percent to 68.9 percent); Prescott, AZ, (down from 82.7 percent to 75.9 percent) and Sacramento, CA (down from 61 percent to 54.7 percent).
Home seller tenure remains near 10-year low
Home sellers in the U.S. who sold in the fourth quarter of 2022 had owned their homes an average of 5.85 years, down from 5.96 years in the previous quarter and from 6.05 years in the fourth quarter of 2021. The latest figure represented the third-shortest average home-seller tenure since 2012. Average seller tenures were down, year over year, in 77, or 72 percent, of the 107 metro areas with a population of at least 200,000 and sufficient data.
Cash sales at nine-year high
Nationwide, all-cash purchases accounted for 36.1 percent, or one of every three single-family home and condo sales in 2022. The latest percentage – the highest since 2013 – was up from 34.4 percent in 2021 and from 22.7 percent in 2020, although still off the 38.5 percent peaks in 2011 and 2012.
Lender-owned foreclosure purchases in U.S. at lowest level in at least 17 years
Foreclosure sales to lenders accounted for just 1.2 percent, or one of every 87 single-family home sales in 2022 – the lowest level since at least 2005. The 2022 figure was down from 1.5 percent of sales, or one in 68, in 2021 and 3.6 percent, or one in 28, in 2020.
Institutional investing down in 2022
Institutional investors nationwide accounted for 6.5 percent, or one of every 15 single-family home and condo sales in 2022 in the U.S. The latest figure was down from 8.1 percent in 2021, but was still more than twice the 2.9 percent level in 2020.
FHA sales at lowest point in 15 years
Nationwide, buyers using Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans accounted for 7.5 percent, or one of every 13 single-family home and condo purchases in 2022. That was down from 8.3 percent in 2021 and from 11.8 percent in 2020, to the lowest point since 2007.
If you are interested in learning more and discovering more granular data, see the entire press release here. Or contact one of our data experts to get the data behind the story.