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Rapid Home Price Appreciation Trend Continues

Radian’s Home Price Index [1] for the month of September found that U.S. home prices appreciated at an annualized rate of 17.6% from the prior month, marking the sixth consecutive month of reporting all-time record month-over-month rate increases.

“Given the rapid rise in home prices over a relatively short period of time, the Radian HPI is constantly mining the data to find signs of a shift in current housing strength, and so far, it seems to be heading in one direction,” said Steve Gaenzler [2], CFA, SVP of Data and Analytics for Radian.

Radian’s HPI has risen at an annualized rate of 13.9% over the nine-month period (January 2021-September 2021), nearly 40% higher than the same period in 2020. The Radian HPI is calculated based on the estimated values of more than 70 million unique addresses each month, covering all single-family property types and geographies.

Nationally, the median price for single-family and condominium homes rose to $294,488. Radian reports that since the onset of the pandemic in March of 2020, homes across the U.S. have appreciated, on average, by more than $41,000.

In terms of the nation’s housing inventory, in September 2021, the percentage of homes purchased as a percentage of the number of homes listed for sale stood at 34%.

“While there are some indications that affordability may be starting to place strain on certain home buyers, the limited supply is a strong support for home price growth.” Gaenzler said. “Ultimately, while bidding wars may be reducing in frequency, sellers are still receiving above list price offers in many situations.”

CoreLogic’s latest Home Price Index (HPI) and HPI Forecast [3] for September 2021 found that demand for the short supply of homes listed remained solid through the end of the summer, driving prices upward 18% year-over-year in September.

Millennials led as the segment of buyers with the biggest demand, as they continued migrate to tech hubs including Seattle; San Jose, California; and Austin, Texas, while many first-time buyers continue to be priced out if the market.

And while the growth in tech jobs spurred those areas in terms of interest, Radian found that the South and West regions recorded the strongest annualized one-month appreciation rates for the third consecutive month, at 20.4% and 18.3%, respectively. While the South and West recorded the highest overall appreciation rates, the Midwest reported the largest month-over-month increase in appreciation rate at 242 basis points higher than the prior month (16.25 vs. 13.8%).

On the other end of the spectrum, the Mid-Atlantic region posted the slowest appreciation rate of all regions at 9.9% year-over-year, and was the only region to report a slower appreciation rate in September 2021, compared to August.

Click here [1] for more on Radian’s HPI for September 2021.