The average return on a U.S. home sale decreased in the third quarter, according to ATTOM’s 2024 U.S. Home Sales Report.
The report shows that homeowners earned a 55.6% profit margin on typical single-family home and condo sale during the quarter – down one percentage point from the second quarter and down two points from the third quarter of last year.
Median raw profit, however, continued to hold steady at just under $130,000. This was due to the leveling of home prices: After bouncing up in the spring and then flattening, the median home value was virtually unchanged at the end of the third quarter at about $360,000.
While home-seller profits remained historically high in the third quarter, the national margin has declined almost every quarter from a 64% peak hit in 2022, ATTOM says.
“The latest price and profit numbers provided another round of generally good news for homeowners, tempered by a bit of a downside,” says Rob Barber, CEO for ATTOM, in the report. “Home values remained at or near record levels around large swaths of the country, keeping seller profits far above historical levels. At the same time, though, the housing market settled down after a big second quarter, which extended a slow fallback in profit margins that started last year. If history is a good guide, the fourth quarter is likely to bring more of the same as the peak buying season ends.”
“This is far from a warning sign that the long market boom is ending,” Barber adds. “But there certainly are forces that could cut either way, especially as affordability remains a challenge for so many potential buyers.”
Typical profit margins – the percent difference between median purchase and resale prices – stayed the same or decreased during the third quarter in 50.6% of the 156 metropolitan statistical areas tracked in the report.
Annually, profit margins were down in 71.8% of metros.
Photo: Gustavo Zambelli