In March, national home prices continued to rise at a fast — and unsustainable rate — pushed by strong demand and low housing inventory. Home price appreciation accelerated in most metro areas.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, reported by S&P Dow Jones Indices, rose at a seasonally adjusted annual growth rate of 20.0% in March, following a 16.3% increase in February. It marks the eighth consecutive month of double-digit growth in home prices since August 2020. On a year-over-year basis, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index posted a 13.2% annual gain in March, up from 12.0% in February. It is the fastest pace of home price appreciation since December 2005.
Meanwhile, the Home Price Index, released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 13.8% in March, following a 13.3% increase in February. On a year-over-year basis, the FHFA Home Price NSA Index rose by 12.5% in March, after an increase of 12.1% in February. The FHFA thus confirmed rapid growth in home prices for this month.
In addition to tracking national home price changes, S&P CoreLogic reported home price indexes across 20 metro areas in March. All 20 metro areas continued to show strong price gains and their annual growth rates ranged from 9.3% to 43.5%. Among all 20 metro areas, four metros exceeded the national average of 20.0%. Phoenix led the way with a 43.5% increase, followed by Seattle with a 40.8% increase and San Diego with a 36.2% increase.
The scatter plot below lists the 20 major U.S. metropolitan areas’ annual growth rates in March and in February. The X-axis presents the annual growth rates in February; the Y-axis presents the annual growth rates in March. Seventeen out of the 20 metro areas, the dots above the blue line, had an acceleration in home price growth, while San Francisco, Detroit and Minneapolis, located below the blue line, experienced deceleration.
