Home prices spike more than 6% for fourth straight month

‘Much more needs to be done’ to counter rising unaffordability, expert warns

Home prices spike more than 6% for fourth straight month
November was the fourth consecutive month to show annual home-price growth of more than 6%, according to new data from CoreLogic.

CoreLogic’s November Home Price Index (HPI) and HPI Forecast, released Tuesday, found that home prices nationally increased by 7% year over year and 1% month over month.

CoreLogic’s HPI Forecast projected that home prices will see a smaller increase between November of 2017 and November of 2018, rising 4.2% during the period. Prices are expected to decrease 0.4% on a month-over-month basis between November and December.

“Rising home prices are good news for home sellers, but add to the challenges that homebuyers face,” said Frank Nothaft, CoreLogic’s chief economist. “Growing numbers of first-time homebuyers find limited for-sale inventory for lower-priced homes, leading to both higher rates of price growth for starter homes and further erosion of affordability.”

Inflated home value is also still an issue in many areas of the country, according to CoreLogic. The company found that 37% of the country’s largest metropolitan areas had an overvalued housing stock as of November, meaning that home prices are higher than their long-term sustainable levels in those markets. When looking at the top 50% of largest US metro areas, half of them were overvalued.

“Without a significant surge in new building and affordable housing stock, the relatively high level of growth in home prices in recent years will continue in most markets,” said Frank Martell, CoreLogic president and CEO. “Although policymakers are increasingly looking for ways to address the lack of affordable housing, much more needs to be done soon to see a significant improvement over the medium term.”


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