Prices Increases Accelerated in October
Quarterly price gains picked up momentum in October, after a soft September. While current quarterly gains are all under 5 percent, October marks the fifth consecutive month of quarter-over-quarter home price growth. Price growth was strong in every region, including the Northeast, but Midwest prices continued to trail the nation. Nationally, prices edged up 2.1percetm over the rolling quarter, a slight uptick over September's rate of growth. The West came in strong again, with quarterly gains of 3.7 percent. The South posted gains of 2 percent over the rolling quarter, according to Clear Capital’s October HDI Market Report released this morning. Previously trailing in quarterly gains, the Northeast saw the largest jump in regional performance. Up 1.7 percentage points from September, the Northeast posted 1.9 percent growth quarter-over-quarter. Price gains across the low, mid, and top tier sectors all contributed to the region’s quarterly improvement. Meanwhile, in Midwest quarterly growth of 1.0 percent was 0.9 percentage points lower than September's. The Midwest tends to see quicker shifts in percentage change due to relatively low price points when compared to other regions. But there are certainly states within the Midwest, like Ohio, that have made notable progress. Ohio’s recorded quarterly gains of 1.6 percent are secondary to its more substantial long term price growth of 15.0 percent since President Obama took office. Yearly home prices in October came in strong. National gains of 4.6 percent are the highest since August 2010, when the first-time-homebuyer tax credit was enticing buyers. The West posted its first double digit yearly gains since 2006, at 11.4 percent. While the hard hit region showed little signs of slowing down, it has a long way to go. Current prices are still 42.9 percent below the peak. On par with quarterly trends, the Midwest saw yearly gains soften to 1.1 percent. This, in part, reflects higher prices a year ago when the region saw a short uptick. October year-over-year home prices in the South and the Northeast made headway; each up at least 1.0 percentage point over September, to 4.2 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively. With yearly growth of 6.8 percent, Virginia outpaced its region by 2.6 points.
