Although home prices in many states of the country have skyrocketed to historic levels, preventing a large part of first-time buyers from accessing these properties, ATTOM real estate data recently indicated that, due to a restructuring in certain areas of the country, costs have fallen up to a third.

Through a report, ATTOM compared the average prices of homes in certain cities of the country, and noted that in the first quarter of this year in at least 39 of 129 larger cities costs decreased considerably; many of these areas are located in states such as Florida and California.

According to the analysis, prices have fallen by up to 9% compared to the previous year; however, many of these declines are also being seen in cities where costs skyrocketed during the pandemic and have been maintained since.

Bryce Ocepek, real estate agent, commented that it's common for “the product (the home) to remain in the market, then they lower the price, then or it stays there longer and they lower the price again, and in the end it ends up being outbid by buyers with bargaining power,” he said.

But really, the affordability problem, as has been raised by other market specialists, is the lack of inventory amid high demand, and until this is resolved with increased supply, prices will remain high on a national level.

For his part, Jake Krimmel, senior economist at Realtor.com, commented that another issue that also affects the sector and affects certain metropolitan areas is the skyrocketing rise in home insurance and property taxes.

For example, the average costs of home insurance in the southwest region increased up to 18%, mainly due to geographical risks. “Premiums are higher in the southern zone of the state of Flo rida, where hurricanes threaten a large concentration of high value housing. The highest counties c hoops are Monroe ($22,436), Miami-Dade ($15,715) and Palm Beach ($14,235)”, highlights an Insurify report.

In this case, Ocepek adds that “when a property doesn't become insurable due to hurricane damage, its value depreciates significantly; it's not just a few points. "That can also distort the data a little, where some properties are drastically devalued, while others maintain their value depending on whether they were affected by the hurricane or not."

However, Krimmel believes that, unlike previous years, the real estate market is currently improving the outlook for future purchasing. adores, “although I wouldn't say that it's a total recovery or that it has returned to normality. It just seems to be normalized a bit,” he highlighted.