Home seller gains are down, but strong — especially in West

Home sale ROIs drop for the quarter

Home sellers may not be making the bank they were last year, but sales profits are still going strong, historically speaking. According to new data, the average seller saw a 31.5 percent return on investment last quarter — amounting to $57,500 in profits.

Seller gains slide slightly

According to the Q1 2019 U.S. Home Sales Report from ATTOM Data Solutions, the average home seller earned just over $57,000 last year. That’s a 31.5 percent return on investment.

Though the average ROI is down from Q4 2018, when sellers made $60,000 per sale, the stats are up over the year. Sellers are now making $1,200 more than in Q1 2018. Seller gains peaked in Q4 2005 when they made an average of $81,006 per sale.

According to Todd Teta, chief product officer at ATTOM, the gains are still historically strong.

“We are starting to see homes sales prices and profit margins softening for the nation, and the average homeownership tenure did see a slight dip from last quarter,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer at ATTOM Data Solutions. “However, home prices are still above pre-recession peaks in 59 percent of local markets, and as the buying season starts to kick into gear, the next few months may provide even more answers to the question of whether a lasso is indeed around the market or if the recent trend is a temporary bump in the ride.”

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Where sellers gain the most

ATTOM’s data also revealed the cities where sellers are earning the most. According to the data, those on the West Coast are pocketing the biggest gains.

San Jose, California, takes No. 1, with home sellers seeing an 84.1 percent return on investment last quarter. Sellers in the city earned more than $479,500 on their sale in Q1.

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San Francisco came in at No. 2 with a 70.9 percent ROI, while Seattle took third with a 63.1 ROI. In San Francisco, sellers netted $336,000.

Other cities with high ROIs were Modesto, California (59.7 percent) and Salt Lake City, Utah (56.5 percent). In Honolulu, sellers made $171,563 per sale, while those in Los Angeles made $217,000.

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