U.S. home prices increased 0.7% in February compared with January and were up 5.5% compared with February 2023, according to CoreLogic’s home price index report.
The firm forecasts that annual home price appreciation will taper to 3.1% by February 2025.
In February, four of the top five states with the highest annual home price growth were in the Northeast: New Jersey, Rhode Island, Maine and Connecticut
The five states where home prices remain furthest from the summer 2022 peak are Idaho, Washington, Utah, Vermont and Montana.
The Miami and San Diego metro areas continued to lead the country for annual growth in February, both at about 10%.
“Home price growth pivoted in February, as the impact of the January 2023 Home Price Index bottom finally faded,” says Selma Hepp, chief economist for CoreLogic, in a statement. “As a result, the U.S. should begin to see slowing annual home price gains moving forward.”
“Nevertheless,” Hepp adds, “with a 0.7% increase from January to February 2024, which is almost double the monthly increase recorded before the pandemic, spring home price gains are already off to a strong start despite continued mortgage rate volatility.”
“That said, more inventory finally coming to market will likely translate to more options for buyers and fewer bidding wars, which typically keeps outsized price growth in check,” Hepp says. “Still, despite affordability challenges, homebuyer demand appears to favor already expensive, coastal markets with a limited availability of properties for sale.”
In February, the annual appreciation of detached properties (5.8%) was 1.2 percentage points higher than that of attached properties (4.6%).
Photo: Tierra Mallorca
