To all the agents in the house,
U.S. home prices are still going up and there are just a few, limited data points to support that this trend will soon be reversed. A prolonged high-demand, low-inventory cycle is mostly happening across the country but there are a couple of nuances.
The first is where it's really happening.
We reported on S&P CoreLogic's Case-Shiller Index for June, which found that median home prices grew 19% nationally to over $350,000 compared with June 2020.
The Case-Shiller index is one of a handful of resources for measuring the housing market, and its specific use is partly examining the 20 biggest U.S. cities. And according to the index, Phoenix saw home prices appreciate more than any other big city for the 25th straight month.
The home of the Desert Botanical Garden and the 2021 Western Conference champion Suns saw a 29% increase in price. The average median Phoenix home price is a tick under $400,000.
But Phoenix's home prices are modest compared to fellow Pacific time cities San Diego and Seattle. San Diego, for example, has seen home prices climb 27% to $865,000 in June 2021 compared to one year earlier.
I'd really like to hear from agents in these western cities where prices soar. There's ample tales of buyers around the block, bidding wars, and offers made while inspections are waived. But I would be curious to hear more about your day-to-day during this housing cycle, and how your job has changed.
The second variation to high-demand, low inventory is where price bumps are barely happening.
I wrote this week about Springfield, the capital of Illinois, where prices barely budged in the last year. The lack of price appreciation is the case in a few other mid-sized Midwest cities like Peoria, Illinois and Cedar Rapids, Iowa where costs increased by less than 3%, according to National Association of Realtors data.
(It's really not the case in bigger Midwest cities, though of the 20 cities examined by Case-Schiller Chicago had the lowest year-over year price appreciation at 13%).
I'd also like to hear from agents in these markets, who have endured the pandemic but perhaps not the simultaneous shift to a new housing market. Do you feel like you've missed out? Or is there perhaps a stability to your market?
Please let me know! I can be emailed anonymously at mblake@housingwire.com
Sincerely,
Matthew Blake
Senior Real Estate Reporter
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