Are sellers seeing bigger returns this year — finally

Post author: Daren Blomquist

U.S. homeowners selling in 2015 are enjoying the biggest gains in home value since 2007 thanks to rising home prices over the past three years.

Home prices nationwide increased 23 percent since bottoming out in March 2012, based on data from the RealtyTrac May 2015 U.S. Home & Foreclosure Sales Report.

Diving deeper into the data, we looked at the difference between the average sales price of U.S. homes and condos sold so far in 2015 compared to the previous sales price of those same homes to determine how much home value gains 2015 sellers are realizing.

What we found is that U.S. home sellers in 2015 are realizing the biggest home value gains — both as a dollar amount and as a percentage gain — since 2007.

In terms of dollar amount, sellers are realizing an average gain of nearly $30,000, which comes out to an average 12 percent gain in home value since they purchased their home.

Sellers are realizing an average gain of nearly $30,000 — an average 12 percent increase.

Of course, this does not include the amount those homeowners paid down on their mortgage, so the actual equity in the homes sold in 2015 is higher than that 12 percent.

The infographic below shows the historical trends in sellers’ home value gains as well as the markets where sellers in 2015 are seeing the biggest average home value gains.