Housing

The State Where Home Prices Are Surging

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Home prices in America have skyrocketed this year. According to the carefully followed S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index, home prices in America rose an average of 19.5% in September, compared to the same month last year. Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P DJI, remarked:

Housing prices continued to show remarkable strength in September, though the pace of price increases declined slightly. The National Composite Index rose 19.5% from year-ago levels, with the 10- and 20-City Composites up 17.8% and 19.1%, respectively.

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Real estate research firm CoreLogic looked at national, state and metro prices for October in its U.S. Home Price Insights. This report’s conclusion about national prices was similar to the Case-Shiller Index September number. CoreLogic showed national prices, which include distressed sales, were up 18% in October compared to the same month last year.

Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic, remarked:

New household formation, investor purchases and pandemic-related factors driving demand for the limited supply of available for-sale homes continues to propel the upward spiral of U.S. home prices. However, we expect home price growth to moderate over the near term as many buyers take a break for the holidays.


The price increases by city varied widely, as they did by state. The large metropolitan area with the highest home price increase was Phoenix, where it was up 30.5% year over year. Among the top 10 metros, the state with the lowest increase rate was Chicago, where it was only 8.8% higher.

Among states, the one with the highest home price increase in October was Arizona, up 28.8%.

The reason for price jumps in Arizona and other inland states likely is people migrating from large coastal cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, which have expensive real estate and high living costs. The “work from home” movement has allowed people to go to smaller cities where real estate prices and the cost of living are lower.

These are the 10 states where home prices are rising fastest:

  • Arizona (28.8%)
  • Idaho (28.7%)
  • Utah (24.5%)
  • Florida (24.4%)
  • Nevada (24.2%)
  • Montana (24.2%)
  • Tennessee (23.6%)
  • Vermont (21.6%)
  • North Carolina (21.1%)
  • Washington (20.08%)

Click here to see which are the most expensive cities to buy a home in.

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