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15 2022 HOME SALE PROFITS TOP 50% According to ATTOM Data's year-end 2022 Home Sales Report, the average home seller earned a real profit on their sale to the tune of $112,000, up 21% from 2021 and 78% from two years ago. is news comes despite the recent re- cession in the housing market that started in the second half of 2022—in fact, profits rose from 2021 to 2022 in 98% of major housing markets. is figure represents the highest level of home seller profit since 2008. e average $112,000 of profit earned by each seller also represents a 51.4% return on investment compared to the buyer's initial purchase price, a number that is up 44.6% from last year and 32.8% in 2020. "It seems pretty likely that home seller profits peaked for this cycle in 2022," said Rick Sharga, EVP 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 return on invest- ment have improved nationwide for 11 straight years, shooting up again in 2022 as the national median home price increased 10% to $330,000—another annual record. In addition, the median home price increased 10% throughout 2022, hitting an- other all-time high of $330,000. e full-year median home-price appreciation in 2022 fell below the 17.6% recorded in 2021. Still, the increase in national median value remains at levels not seen since 2012. Profit margins on typical home sales im- proved from 2021 to 2022 in 141 of the 157 metro areas with sufficient data to analyze (90%). at happened as the 10% jump in sale prices nationwide in 2022 surpassed the 5% increases recent sellers had been paying when they originally bought their homes. Raw profits on median-priced home sales in 2022 topped $100,000 in 79, or 50%, of the 157 metro areas with sufficient data to analyze. Another statistic monitored by ATTOM found that sellers who sold their homes during the fourth quarter of 2022 had owned their homes for an average of 5.85 years, down from 6.05 years during the same period in 2021. e latest figure represented the third-shortest average home-seller tenure since 2012. Average seller tenures were down year-over-year by 72%. According to ATTOM, nationwide, all- cash purchases accounted for 36.1%, or one of every three single-family home and condo sales in 2022. e latest percentage—the highest since 2013—was up from 34.4% in 2021 and 22.7% in 2020, although still off the 38.5% peaks in 2011 and 2012. "Cash buyers—many, but not all of whom are investors—are in a position of competi- tive advantage in today's higher interest rate environment and will continue to account for a higher-than-usual share of market at least until mortgage rates dip back down a bit," Shar- ga noted. "With affordability a problem for many buyers—especially first-time buyers—it wouldn't be a surprise to see the percentage of cash purchases actually increase in 2023." Foreclosure sales to lenders accounted for just 1.2%, or 1 in 87 single-family home sales in 2022—the lowest level since at least 2005. e 2022 figure was down from 1.5% of sales, or 1 in 68, in 2021 and 3.6%, or 1 in 28, in 2020. Institutional investors nationwide accounted for 6.5%, or 1 in 15 single-family home and condo sales in 2022 in the U.S. e latest figure was down from 8.1% in 2021 but was still more than twice the 2.9% level in 2020. e final bit of data on the report found that nationwide, buyers using Federal Hous- ing Administration (FHA) loans accounted for 7.5%, or 1 in 13 single-family home and condo purchases in 2022. at was down from 8.3% in 2021 and 11.8% in 2020, to the lowest point since 2007. Journal SUN BELT CITIES RANKED MOST POPULAR RELOCATION DESTINATIONS According to a new Redfin report, a record one-quarter (24.6%) of Redfin users looked to move to a different metro area in Q4 as remote work allowed the few Ameri- cans buying homes to seek out less expensive areas amid an ongoing housing affordability crunch. at's up from 22.1% a year earlier and around 18% before the pandemic. e people who are buying homes are relocating at an unprecedented rate because elevated mortgage rates, still-high home prices, and economic uncertainty are driving many of them—especially remote workers— to more affordable areas. Meanwhile, those same factors also caused the overall pool of homebuyers to shrink, with pending home sales down more than 30% from a year ago at the end of 2022. Many homeown- ers are also reluctant to move because they don't want to give up their relatively low mortgage rate. Eight of the top 10 migration destinations in Q4 all had fewer homebuyers looking to move in than a year earlier. Sacramento and Las Vegas, the most popular destinations, both had net inflows of around 5,500, down from roughly 6,500 a year earlier. Phoenix, the fifth most popular destination, had a net inflow of about 4,000 in Q4, down from more than 8,000. Net inflow is the number of people looking to move into a metro minus the number of people looking to leave. "Phoenix is typically a huge vaca- tion-home market, but I've seen a big decline in people purchasing second homes and investment properties lately. ere are still out-of-towners buying homes and moving here full time, though that has also slowed down over the last several months as mort- gage rates have risen," said local Redfin agent Heather Mahmood-Corley. "Still, the cost of living in Phoenix is low compared to places like the Bay Area, Seattle, Denver, and parts of the East Coast, where many out-of-town- Continued