U.S. housing prices have trended upward for decades, but they have spiked even more in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in particular places.
Median housing prices across the U.S. in the first quarter of 2020 were at $329,000 and spiked to $428,700 by the first quarter of 2022, as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the country.
Current home prices are just over 30 percent more than they were in 2020 and have increased by almost 16 percent since 2021.
As housing prices skyrocket across the country amid record-setting inflation rates, here are the cities with the highest median list prices.
San Jose
In April 2022, California cities dominated in terms of pricey housing markets, according to research data from Zillow.
Of the nearly 100 cities analyzed by Zillow, San Jose was the only city to surpass $1 million average housing prices, with a median list price of $1,390,000.
Los Angeles
The Los Angeles area, which also includes Long Beach and Anaheim, ranked second and had a median list price of $998,330.
San Francisco
San Francisco was not far behind the City of Angels, with a median list price at $978,478.
Ventura
With a median list price of $943,967, the Pacific Coast city just north of Los Angeles was about $35,000 short of the three priciest cities in California.
San Diego
San Diego’s median list price held at $921,000, Zillow’s data showed.
Experts say that the even higher prices elsewhere in the state are contributing to the city’s hot market.
“What I have been seeing is a lot of people from L.A., San Francisco, San Jose areas starting to get priced out of their markets and turning their attention to San Diego because of location, and a lot of those other markets appreciate a lot faster, we are seeing a lot of those people come down here,” San Diego realtor Destiny Roxas said to NBC 7, a local news station.
Stamford
Beyond California, Stamford, Conn., led the rest of the country, with median listing prices just below $900,000.
The city is located just 40 miles from New York City and has the country’s highest density of high-income households.
Seattle
Back on the West Coast, Seattle ranked seventh with a median list price of $782,997.
However, rising mortgage rates and other factors have caused experts to say the market cannot continue to grow at the rapid pace seen during the pandemic, according to The Seattle Times.
“Things do seem to be leveling off,” Kristina Loper, a Keller Williams agent in the area, told the Times.
Boston
Boston was next, at $746,000. The city’s real estate market is “overvalued,” according to Boston.com, which cited a CoreLogic report released earlier this month.
Melvin Vieira Jr., the Greater Boston Real Estate Board’s president, told the outlet that he has seen the intensity of the market lessen in the past few months.
“We’re going to get fewer bidding wars on properties that are under $1 million,” he said. “You’re really going to see the leveling of prices and even price adjustments. We’re not going to see so many multiple offers on homes in that price range.”
Honolulu
Urban Honolulu was next with a median list price of $721,667. The area has seen record-setting housing prices this year, a trend the Honolulu Board of Realtors attributes to supply and demand.
“What everybody is asking is, at what point will it cause the market to normalize,” board president Chad Takesue told Hawaii News Now, a local news station.
“Until inventory levels get to a point where they meet, we continue to expect to see a competitive marketplace,” Takesue added.
New York City
Rounding out the top ten is New York City, with a median list price at $692,333.
Despite the high prices, the city is coming off of a recent surge in apartment sales. In the third quarter of 2021, the city saw more apartment sales than any other time in the last 32 years, according to The New York Times.
What’s next
The skyrocketing housing prices have also made the rental market even more competitive, as more people who once would have considered buying a home have looked to rent instead.
But Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at the government-supported mortgage giant Fannie Mae, has said he expects home sales, house prices and mortgage volumes to decrease over the next two years.
“In particular, we expect house price growth to decelerate to a pace more consistent with income growth and interest rates,” Duncan said after his group predicted that inflation and other economic factors could contribute to a possible “modest recession” in 2023.