WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. home prices rose in October for the most part in more than six years as a pandemic-fueled buying rush makes the number of properties available for sale is recorded at minimums.
This combination of strong demand and limited supply pushed home prices up 7.9% in October compared to 12 months ago, according to the 20-city S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller house price index. Tuesday. This is the largest annual increase since June 2014.
The coronavirus outbreak has forced millions of Americans to work from home and reduced other activities such as eating out, going to the movies or visiting gyms. This makes more people looking for homes with more space for a home office, a larger kitchen or space to work.
“Data from recent months is consistent with the view that COVID has encouraged potential buyers to move from urban apartments to suburban homes,” said Craig Lazzara, CEO of S&P Dow Jones Indices.
All 19 cities reported higher year-over-year price gains in October than in September, Lazzara said. Detroit was unable to fully report its home sales data due to delays related to coronavirus blockade.
The largest price increase was in Phoenix for the 17th consecutive month, where house prices rose 12.7% from a year ago. It was followed by Seattle with 11.7% and San Diego with 11.6%.
Home sales fell in November, according to the National Association of Realtors, having risen steadily over the previous five months. Even after the decline, sales were almost 26% higher last month compared to a year ago. Sales have also been bolstered by low mortgage rates, reflecting Federal Reserve moves to keep the short-term benchmark near zero.
The number of homes for sale fell to 1.28 million in November, realtors said, enough to last just 2.3 months at the current pace of sales. Both figures are record lows.