Profit margins for home sellers were essentially flat both quarter over quarter and year over year, according to the Q2 2024 U.S. Home Sales Report from Attom.

Home sellers earned a 55.8% profit margin on typical single-family home and condo sales from April through June. That’s up one percentage point from the first quarter but down one point from the second quarter of 2023.

It’s worth noting that profit margins are still hovering at a level that compares favorably to historical norms. But investment returns largely stayed flat despite a median home price that has been squarely on the uptick for months, driven upward by the lock-in effect and a dearth of supply despite tepid buyer movement.

Raw profits did climb, up 10.1% quarterly and 5.2% yearly to reach $130,712, their highest since peaking at $135,000 in spring 2022. But margins were held back because price growth hasn’t offset the added cost that sellers absorbed when they originally bought the homes they recently sold. Median values were rising roughly 8% quarterly and 7% annually when homeowners were buying the properties they then sold during the second quarter this year, so any boost sellers received from offloading properties recently were largely canceled out.

“The second-quarter profit report offers a mixed bag of plusses and minuses that added up to an overall picture of not much change for sellers,” noted Attom CEO Rob Barber. “Prices jumped back upward, which was great news for owners. So did raw profits. Profit margins also remained historically elevated. But the bottom-line profit-margin trend didn’t move much at all because soaring prices are far from a new thing. Even greater price improvements will be needed to kick margins up over the rest of the year.”