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Housing market still jumping through July

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Takeaways:

  • The national median list price in July 2015 is up 7 percent year over year and 1 percent over the previous month.
  • Median days on market increased to 69 days, down 7 percent year over year, but up 5 percent month over month.
  • California is home to a majority of the top 20 hottest cities, with 11 major metropolitan areas reporting tight supply and economic-powered growth in demand.

With the end of summer approaching and many families preparing to send their children back to school, the busy summer selling season usually starts to taper off — but demand is still strong, according to realtor.com’s “Advance Read of July Trends.”

The early glimpse into how the housing market fared in July shows that the prevailing positive price trend continues, with the national median list price increasing to $234,000, up 7 percent year over year and 1 percent over June.

Median days on market increased to 69 days, down 7 percent year over year, but up 5 percent month over month.

“It’s typical to see a slackening in the pace of market activity during this time of year, due to back to school and the dog days of summer,” said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at realtor.com.

“Increasing median days-on-market suggests the market is finding more of a balance, but demand is still strong. This bodes well for more moderate price appreciation in the months ahead.”

Recent reports that existing-home sales are up, new-home sales are down and pending home sales are both down and up may have resulted in a lot of confusion about market trends, but “we have reviewed the data and taking into account less-than-perfect seasonal adjustment techniques at a very seasonal time for housing and the differing baseline metrics used in the various indicators, we’re comfortable that the market remains strong despite these recent mixed signals,” Smoke said.­­

California is home to a majority of the top 20 hottest cities, with 11 major metropolitan areas reporting tight supply and economic-powered growth in demand. Texas also remains strong for hottest markets again, with four of the country’s most searched cities appearing on the list. Midland, still benefiting from years of economic growth driven by the oil industry, rose 10 spots to No. 7 from June to July. The city ranked 34th on the list in May.

Realtor.com’s “Advance Read” draws on residential inventory and demand trends over the first three weeks of the month.

Email Amy Swinderman.