Home prices rose in August, with New England states leading the pack.
U.S. home prices rose by 3.7% in August, compared to the previous year, according to a report released Tuesday by CoreLogic. The median sales price of a single-family home was $375,000 in August.
Ranked by states, New Hampshire saw the biggest growth in home values in August, at 9.4%, followed by Maine and Vermont, both up 8.9%.
“Housing markets in New England are starting to heat up,” the report stated.
A separate report by the Federal Housing Finance Agency also noted that the New England region posted the highest annual home-price gains as of July 2023. Their measurement lags behind CoreLogic by a month.
But California was the state with the highest median sales price for a single-family home ($705,000), followed by D.C. and Massachusetts ($630,000 and $585,000, respectively), CoreLogic said.
CoreLogic is also expecting annual home-price growth to reach 3.4% by August 2024.
With mortgage rates at 7.61% as of Oct. 2 according to Mortgage News Daily, home buyers are financially stretched as affordability dwindles.
“With a slower buying season ahead and the surging cost of homeownership, additional monthly price gains may taper off,” said Selma Hepp, chief economist at CoreLogic.
CoreLogic analyzes home-price trends by looking at public records, servicing and securities and real-estate databases, as well as repeat-sales transactions.
Western states lead the laggards in terms of home prices. Eight states reported a drop in home prices, with Idaho homes seeing a 4% price decline, followed by Montana, at 2.7% and Nevada at 2.3%. One eastern state — New York — also saw home prices fall in August by 0.2% as compared to last year.
The top three markets at risk of a drop in home prices according to CoreLogic were Spokane-Spokane Valley, Wash., Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., and Youngston-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Penn.