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Annual Home Price Growth Breaks All-Time Record
June 29, 2021
National home prices in April saw an annual gain of 14.6%, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index. This is the highest year-over-year increase in more than 30 years of the index’s data, topping the previous high of 14.51% set in September 2005 at the height of the housing bubble.
The increase follows March’s 13.3% gain and marks the 11th consecutive month of price increases. Prices continue to be driven up as strong buyer demand outpaces available supply. The inventory of homes for sale was up slightly in May as compared to April, but remains 21% lower than in May 2020, according to the National Association of Realtors.
The pace of sales is beginning to slow as many buyers find themselves priced out of the market. Sales of existing homes dropped for the fourth straight month in May, falling 0.9% from the previous month. Extant home sales were 44.6% higher in May than a year prior, but that comparison is skewed by the housing market virtually grinding to a halt at the start of the pandemic.
Just 1.23 million homes were on the market at the end of May, which, at the current sales pace, represents a 2.5 month supply.
