Home prices in the United States have skyrocketed this year. According to the carefully followed S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller Index, which tracks U.S. home prices, the median price of a home nationwide rose 19.8% in August, compared with the same month last year. In Phoenix, Tampa and San Diego, the number was above 25% for the same period.

There are several reasons for the jump. Among them are extremely low interest rates. Another is the migration of people from the large coastal cities like New York and San Francisco to less expensive cities inland. In theory, these should have cheaper real estate. However, sharp demand increases have pushed prices up by double-digit percentages. Many people who have moved also believe that smaller cities and towns will have a better quality of life. Moreover, the ability to work from home, largely triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, has allowed people to move long distances from their former offices.

Realtor.com’s September 2021 Monthly Housing Market Trends Report points out that “The median national home price for active listings remained the same from August through September, at $380,000. The median listing price again grew by 8.6% over last year, the same growth rate as last month.”

Despite the migration from large coastal cities, they continue to be the most expensive in terms of real estate prices. The market in the San Jose metropolitan area has a median listing of $1,250,000, the highest in the country. Nearby San Francisco has a median price of $993,000, also remarkably high. New York is also very high at $608,000.

These are the median asking prices of homes in the top 50 U.S. metropolitan areas:

• Atlanta, Ga. ($398,000)
• Austin, Texas ($546,000)
• Baltimore, Md. ($335,000)
• Birmingham, Ala. ($271,000)
• Boston, Mass. ($675,000)
• Buffalo, N.Y. ($230,000)
• Charlotte, N.C. ($390,000)
• Chicago, Ill. ($332,000)
• Cincinnati, Ohio ($312,000)
• Cleveland, Ohio ($199,000)
• Columbus, Ohio ($289,000)
• Dallas, Texas ($396,000)
• Denver, Colo. ($600,000)
• Detroit, Mich. ($253,000)
• Hartford, Conn. ($337,000)
• Houston, Texas ($363,000)
• Indianapolis, Ind. ($280,000)
• Jacksonville, Fla. ($370,000)
• Kansas City, Mo. ($325,000)
• Las Vegas, Nev. ($430,000)
• Los Angeles, Calif. ($968,000)
• Louisville, Ky. ($250,000)
• Memphis, Tenn. ($249,000)
• Miami, Fla. ($463,000)
• Milwaukee, Wis. ($279,000)
• Minneapolis, Minn. ($350,000)
• Nashville, Tenn. ($448,000)
• New Orleans, La. ($340,000)
• New York, N.Y. ($608,000)
• Oklahoma City, Okla. ($277,000)
• Orlando, Fla. ($380,000)
• Philadelphia, Pa. ($322,000)
• Phoenix, Ariz. ($475,000)
• Pittsburgh, Pa. ($230,000)
• Portland, Ore. ($555,000)
• Providence, R.I. ($429,000)
• Raleigh, N.C. ($427,000)
• Richmond, Va. ($350,000)
• Riverside, Calif. ($540,000)
• Rochester, N.Y. ($217,000)
• Sacramento, Calif. ($589,000)
• San Antonio, Texas ($346,000)
• San Diego, Calif. ($827,000)
• San Francisco, Calif. ($993,000)
• San Jose, Calif. ($1,250,000)
• Seattle, Wash. ($677,000)
• St. Louis, Mo. ($250,000)
• Tampa, Fla. ($363,000)
• Virginia Beach, Va. ($315,000)
• Washington, D.C. ($510,000)

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