YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Youngstown-Warren area reported the third-highest gain percentagewise in house prices during the first quarter of 2025, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday.
The median sale price for houses sold in the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA metropolitan statistical area of $161,900 during the first three months of the year represented a 13.6% increase from the same period in 2024, according to a news release from NAR.
The median sale price increase for a single-family house was highest in Syracuse, N.Y., 17.9% from a year earlier, to $234,300, followed by Montgomery, Ala., where the median sale price increased 16.1%, to $230,000.
Nationally, the median price for an existing single-family house rose 3.4% from a year ago to $402,300 during Q1 2025. More than 80% of metro markets — 189 out of 228, or 83% — registered home price gains in the first quarter of 2025, as the 30-year fixed mortgage rate ranged from 6.63% to 7.04%, according to the most recent NAR quarterly report. Of the 228 tracked metro areas, 11% recorded double-digit price gains over the same period, down from 14% in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Other metros experiencing high percentage increases in median house prices were Nassau County-Suffolk County, N.Y. (12.0%); Toledo, Ohio (11.1%); Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio (11.1%); Rochester, N.Y. (11.1%); Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, Miss. (10.5%); Trenton, N.J. (10.4%); and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pa.-N.J. (10.2%).
“Most metro markets continue to set new record highs for home prices,” Lawrence Yun, NAR economist, said. “In the first quarter, the Northeast performed best in both sales and price gains by percentage. Despite the stronger job additions, the South lagged with declining sales and virtually no price appreciation.”
Housing affordability slightly improved in the first quarter. The monthly mortgage payment on a typical existing single-family home with a 20% down payment was $2,120, down only $2 from the fourth quarter of 2024 ($2,122) but up 4.1% – or $84 – from one year ago. Families typically spent 24.4% of their income on mortgage payments, down from 24.8% in the prior quarter and 24.5% one year ago.
Nearly 17% of markets — 38 of 228 — posted home price declines in the first quarter, up from 11% in the fourth quarter of 2024. The monthly mortgage payment on a typical, existing single-family home with a 20 % down payment was $2,120 – up 4.1% from one year ago.
“A few areas where home prices declined a year or two ago are now rebounding, including Boise, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Seattle,” Yun said. “Similarly, some markets currently experiencing price declines – but with solid job growth – could see prices recover in the near future, such as Austin, San Antonio, Huntsville, Myrtle Beach, Raleigh and many Florida markets.”