The Home Price Index released on March 31, 2020, and showed continued growth in home prices across the country.
Tracking the economy pre-COVID-19 seems like reading history books. The latest report from Case-Shiller proves no different.
January’s data is a composite of 20 major metropolitan areas in the United States. Let’s take a look at the report below.
Home Prices climbed in the West and South regions
Among the data was evidence of a resurgence in home prices out West and in the South.
Seasonally-adjusted data showed growth in Phoenix at 6.9% year-over-year. Seattle, Tampa, and San Diego each came in after Phoenix at 5.1% increase.
The report says home prices were weaker in the Midwest and Northeast. New York came in at 0.8% YoY growth and Chicago’s 0.6% growth helped round out the bottom of the 20-metro survey.
January home prices showed promise
Compared to December – and most of 2019 – the national index of home prices showed deceleration.
That all changed in January 2020. Home prices across the national index in Case-Shiller’s report showed great increase when seasonally-adjusted.
We can expect those trends to continue through most of February’s report, which will be available at the end of April.
The United States did not start seeing economic slowdown due to COVID-19 until late February.
Home prices sustained growth in question
Once the COVID-19 impact on home prices can be properly assessed this summer, it will show January’s data kept up the sustained growth in U.S. housing markets.
Home prices moved slower last year but still established an overall consistency in growth patterns.
The current economic shock may have thrown all of that growth out the window, but at the same time it may suggest once the market can find it’s footing, a resurgence back to January’s values may not be far away.
You can read the rest of the National Case-Shiller Home Price Index report here.
