Florida Virtual Houses

Asking prices for homes in large metros rose in March, according to one index.

April 13th, 2009

Altos Research's latest 10-city composite index of asking prices showed a 1.1% increase in March. This isn't bad news, but it's not great news either.

The reason that prices increased is that more expensive homes are lingering on the market and lower priced homes are selling. As a result, the median listing price is shifting higher.

(Remember, these are the prices sellers are asking, not what the homes eventually sell for.)

"It implies some amount of stability in that the bottom is not falling as much," said Mike Simonsen, co-founder and CEO of Altos Research. "And people are getting more bang for the buck at high end because the price per square foot continues to fall."

Interestingly, the largest monthly drop was in Salt Lake City, a market that was relatively stable until about a year ago. Salt Lake City asking prices fell 4%. The median asking price in Las Vegas dropped 3.9%. Asking prices rose more than 2% in Los Angeles, Houston, Boston, San Diego and San Francisco.

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