ATTOM said U.S. home sellers nationwide realized a $112,000 profit on the typical sale last year, up 21 percent from $92,500 in 2021 and up 78 percent from 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, ATTOM said in its Year-End 2022 U.S. Home Sales Report. The latest nationwide profit figure, based on median purchase and resale prices, marked the highest level in the U.S. since at least 2008. The report noted 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. “It seems pretty likely that home seller profits peaked for this cycle in 2022,” said Rick Sharga, Executive Vice President of Market Intelligence at ATTOM. “Median prices have declined on a monthly basis since mortgage rates doubled between January and October and are likely to decline further in many markets across the country in 2023, reducing profitability for home sellers.” 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, ATTOM reported. But at the same time, 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 2022’s second half as home-mortgage rates doubled, consumer price inflation soared to a 40-year high and the stock market slumped.

Source: ATTOM