CoreLogic reports the median selling price of all homes across the country was up 18.1% in August from a year earlier, the largest year-over-year gain as measured for all homes in all markets in the 45-year history of its home price index.
For the D.C. region, the annual gain in August was still a healthy 13.3%. It trailed the national average and was not a record for this market.
According to CoreLogic data, the largest year-over-year gain in median home prices in the D.C. metro happened in May 2005, when it registered a 25.9% gain.
Gains in home values in the past year are good for sellers, but are increasingly pricing out potential buyers.
“Home prices continue to escalate at a torrid pace as a broad spectrum of buyers drive demand for a limited supply of homes, ” said CoreLogic CEO Frank Martell. “We expect to see the trend of strong price gains continue indefinitely with large amounts of capital chasing too few assets.”
A recent CoreLogic consumer survey showed the disparity between homebuyers in the market, with 59% of consumers looking to buy a home reporting combined household earnings of at least six figures, compared to 10% of consumers looking to purchase earning less than $50,000.
In addition, CoreLogic says the increasingly expensive U.S. housing market is being exacerbated by an influx of home buying activity from investors.
Some areas of the country have seen blistering increases in home values. In Idaho and Arizona, median selling prices in August were up 32.2% and 29.5% from a year earlier. By metro, Phoenix leads with median selling prices in August up 30.9% from a year earlier.
Below is a CoreLogic chart showing annual changes and forecast changes some of the largest metros:
