Single-family home prices rose by 5.3% year over year in March, marking the fifth consecutive month that price gains remained above 5% and the 146th straight month of annual growth.
That’s according to the CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI), which is projecting that price gains are set to stay over 5% for most of the next year. On a month over month basis, prices were up by 1.2%.
“Home prices increased again this March beyond the typical seasonal uptick, despite mortgage rates reaching this year’s high and the affordability crunch continuing to keep many prospective buyers on the sidelines,” said Selma Hepp, chief economist at CoreLogic. “Even with the long-anticipated break in for-sale inventory, the surging cost of homeownership, further fueled by rising insurance and tax expenses, is holding potential home sales back, as is evident in the slow rise in sales compared with last year. These price pressures reflect the overall supply-and-demand mismatch, as well as continued interest from households with larger budgets.”
Every state recorded a year-over-year price increase. The Northeast leads the country in annual price gains, with four of the top five states for yearly appreciation in the region: New Jersey (12.2% price growth year over year), New Hampshire (10.6%), Connecticut (9.5%) and Rhode Island (9.2%).
CoreLogic’s metro-level data yields the same trends, with Camden, New Jersey; Hartford, Connecticut; Syracuse, New York; Worcester, Massachusetts; Newark, New Jersey; Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Rochester, New York all among the 10 fastest appreciating markets in 2024 thus far. The listings shortage is easing somewhat nationwide, but inventory gains in the Northeast have trailed the supply pickup in places like Florida and Texas, accounting for part of the outsized price gains.
CoreLogic expects price growth to begin cooling at the tail end of the next 12 months, with an HPI forecast of a 3.7% annual increase by March 2025.
