10 Markets Where Home Price Growth Has Slowed the Most

Rising interest rates and affordability issues have begun slowing home sales around the country, but prices keep rising overall.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) says the national median sales price for an existing single-family home (SFH) crossed the $400,000 barrier for the first time in the second quarter of 2022 and now stands at a record $413,500.

That's up 14.2% from a year ago, says NAR, and double-digit increases in the prices for which homes sold were reported in 80% of the 185 metro areas the trade group tracks. All real estate is local, of course, and in a number of places, price growth is considerably below that -- including one where sales price growth has dipped below zero year over year (YOY).

In ascending order, here are the bottom 10, according to NAR's recently released Q2 report.

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The capital city of the Garden State is the only metro area on NAR's list that recorded negative SFH price growth in Q2 2022. In this case, down 0.7% from Q2 2021 to a median price of $370,600. Keep in mind, though, that this follows a 34% jump from 2019 when the median price here was $276,300.

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This historic community in the heart of the Berkshires saw a gain of only 0.7% in the median sale price for SFHs from Q2 2021 to Q2 2022. Now sitting at $324,000, that price tag was $223,200 in 2019, $266,300 in 2020, and $302,400 at the end of 2021. So, there's been some strong price appreciation in the very recent past.

According to NAR, investors and homebuyers looking at the Fond du Lac area in East-Central Wisconsin can score a single-family home at a median price of $194,200. That sales price is up only 1.6% from this point last year and about 33% over the past three years in this metro area of about 100,000 people, roughly an hour north of Milwaukee.

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These three cities comprise a metro area of about 380,000 people in the eyes of the U.S. Census Bureau. (Along with Bettendorf, Iowa, they're the Quad Cities.) These Mississippi River communities are affordable by NAR standards, with a median sales price of $159,700 that rose by only 1.8% in the past year and is far less than half the national number.

This Great Plains capital city saw SFHs sell for a median price of $286,100 in the second quarter, NAR figures show. That's a scant 3.0% gain YOY. And the three-year jump of only 14% in this metro area of about 130,000 along the Missouri River is among the lowest on the national list.

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This is the exception that proves the rule that all these slowing markets are in cold, northern environs. According to NAR, sunny St. Croix saw its SFH median sales price grow by only 3.2% YOY to $350,000. At the end of 2019, that median sales price was $285,300, so it jumped about 22% over that time in this tropical Caribbean territory.

Historical note: The U.S. bought the whole chain of what is now the U.S. Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million in 2017. There are New York condos that fetch more than that now.

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Look Magazine dubbed this Hudson River community "Hometown U.S.A." back in 1944. Glens Falls itself is a town of about 15,000 people, while the metro population numbers about 129,000. The median sales price for an SFH in this Upstate New York market is now $240,400, up just 3.2% YOY. That's the same as St. Croix -- but a lot snowier.

A median SFH sales price of $700,600 makes this metro area of about 930,000 people the highest price on this list of 10. That price is only 3.3% above last year at this point, but it follows a searing run of price hikes that have seen the median skyrocket by 57% from $445,600 just three years ago, NAR figures show.

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Home prices have jumped nearly 30% in Northeast Ohio's Canton-Massillon market in the past three years, but much of that was in the first two. According to NAR, the median sales price in this metro of about 400,000 people only rose by 4.3% from Q2 2021 to Q2 2022, and the median price of $179,400 is also quite modest by national standards.

Elmira is nestled in the Southern Tier region of the Empire State and is home to about 26,000 people in the city and 90,000 in Chemung County. The median sales price for a single-family home in this market moved up only 4.6% YOY and, at $148,300, is among the most affordable of the 185 markets NAR tracks.

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Buying when the market is down is always a good idea if the price and the product are right. Each city on this list has attributes that make it a good place to find an investment property to rent or flip or simply a home at a very livable price.

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