Home prices are higher than ever, but seller profits have slipped

U.S. homeowners earned a median profit of 50% on home sales in the second quarter of 2025, according to an ATTOM analysis released this week.

That figure marked a slight uptick from the 48.9% figure in the first quarter, but it was down from 55.6% during the second quarter of last year.

Median home sale prices reached a record high of $369,000 — up 5.4% from the first quarter and 3.1% year over year. Still, the typical profit from a home sale fell to $123,000, down 5.6% from $127,990 in the second quarter of 2024.

“We saw historically high home prices last quarter but even so, we didn’t see a big jump in seller profits,” said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. “That’s a measure of the fact that home prices have been very high for a number of years now.

“While profit margins aren’t going up significantly, they’re still sitting at pretty good levels. The median home sale last quarter netted a 50 percent profit, whereas in the years right before the pandemic the typical seller was netting around 30 percent.”

Margins decline in most metro areas

ATTOM analyzed 156 metro areas with at least 200,000 residents and 1,000 home sales last quarter. Profit margins dropped year over year in 123 markets, or nearly 79%. On a quarterly basis, margins increased in 77 markets.

Ocala, Florida, saw the sharpest annual drop in profit margins, falling from 97.6% to 61.8%. Other significant declines were seen in Knoxville, Tennessee (down to 81%); and the Florida metros of Sarasota (47.8%), Punta Gorda (58.9%) and Naples (52.4%).

Markets that saw the largest year-over-year gains included Hilo, Hawaii (up to 65.7%); Kalamazoo, Michigan (69.3%); Flint, Michigan (69.7%); Trenton, New Jersey (81.4%); and Bridgeport, Connecticut (69%).

In larger metro areas with populations of at least 1 million, Las Vegas saw the steepest decline — with the typical profit dropping from 60.6% to 46.9%. Other large metro areas with significant decreases included Jacksonville, Tampa, San Francisco and Columbus, Ohio.

Honolulu; St. Louis; Hartford, Connecticut; Chicago; and Buffalo, New York, posted modest annual increases in profit margins.

Home sale prices rose on a yearly basis in 125 of 159 analyzed metro areas, and in 144 of 159 on a quarterly basis. Hilo, Hawaii, posted the biggest annual sale price gain at 32.9%.

Diving deeper into the data

Just over half of the analyzed markets had profit margins at or above the national mark of 50% — down from a share of 60% in the first quarter.

Among large metro areas, the highest median profit margins were in San Jose (101.2%); Buffalo, New York (81.8%); Seattle (78.6%); Providence, Rhode Island (78.4%); and Hartford, Connecticut (78.4%).

The lowest margins were in New Orleans (20.5%); San Antonio (24.7%); Houston (33.2%); Austin (33.9%); and Dallas (34.2%).

Raw profits fell in 103 of the 156 metro areas analyzed.

Jacksonville posted the largest drop among major markets, down 18.5%. Other sharp declines were seen in Austin, New Orleans, Las Vegas and Tampa.

The biggest increases in raw profits were in Honolulu (up 16.9%); Chicago (10.3%); St. Louis (9.9%); Cincinnati (9.1%); and Hartford (8.3%).

San Jose led the way when measuring profits in dollar amounts at $830,000, followed by San Francisco ($499,000), Los Angeles ($360,000), San Diego ($360,000) and Seattle ($330,050).

Real estate-owned (REO) sales made up 1.3% of all U.S. sales — down from 1.5% in the previous quarter. The highest rates were in Macon, Georgia (5.5%), and Shreveport, Louisiana (4.9%).

All-cash sales fell to 38.9% of transactions. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, led all metros with 70.6% of deals involving cash.

Institutional investors accounted for 5.7% of sales, down from 6.5% a year ago. Memphis, Tennessee (14.5%), had the highest investor share.

Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans accounted for 8.3% of all sales nationwide, with the largest shares in California and Maryland metros.