Home prices have notched their 32nd straight month of increases.
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Home prices have officially been rising for 32 straight months.
According to the House Price Index released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency this morning, home prices are up 5% from the second quarter of last year, marking nearly three full years of steady growth. It’s now the longest streak of home price jumps since 2009.
At the state level, home prices have jumped in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia. Prices rose the most in Idaho, where residents saw an increase of 11.4% over the year, and Utah, where prices increased 7.7%. Tennessee, Georgia and Arizona rounded out the top five in terms of home price growth.
Boise City, Idaho, claimed the highest home price increase out of all major metropolitan areas. The city saw a 13.6% over Q2 2018.
This chart shows the change in home prices in some of the nation’s largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas. “4Q” indicates the change in home prices from the second quarter of 2018 to the second quarter of 2019. “1Q” indicates the change between the
Courtesy of the Federal Housing Finance Agency
There is a silver lining, though. The uptick isn’t as large as in previous months, and in fact, marks the 15th consecutive month and the fifth quarter that the growth rate has slowed. As Lynn Fisher, senior advisor for economic at FHFA, explains, waning home sales have much to do with it.
“The pace of home sales has also slowed over the last two years in response to market conditions, including affordability constraints and tight inventories,” Fisher said. “As of July, inventories of homes for sale are currently below both 2017 and 2018 levels.”
According to experts, the slowing growth may not last for long—especially given today’s low mortgage rates, which currently sit at 3.55%.
Ralph McLaughlin, deputy chief economist at property data firm CoreLogic, said price growth could even increase as we move further into 2019.
“While falling mortgage rates have thus far only led to an increase in refinancing, rather than purchase activity, there will undoubtedly be a large boon to the marginal homebuyer,” McLaughlin said. “Thus, we should expect the lengthy slowdown in home price growth to flatten or even tick upwards by the end of the year assuming the U.S. economy avoids any present-day threats of a recession.”