Housing

The American City With the Hottest Housing Market

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: May 5, 2024 7:15 am

Last Updated: May 6, 2024 6:57 am

One of the gold standards for U.S. real estate prices is the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, which is over two decades old. Recently, its monthly numbers have shown that U.S. home prices are surging. The U.S. National Home Price NSA Index showed that, in February, home prices rose 6.4% from the same month the year before.

“Following last year’s decline, U.S. home prices are at or near all-time highs,” said Brian D. Luke, Head of Commodities, Real & Digital Assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices. He added that the previous peak was in 2022 and that 2023 posted poor results because of rising mortgage rates.

The Case-Shiller figures also show numbers for 20 cities, year over year and month over the previous month. San Diego had the largest year-over-year increase in February by far. It was the only city with a double-digit jump: up 11.4%. That contrasts with the slowest growing market, Portland, which was up only 2.2%.

The Case-Shiller figures also show city prices indexed to January 2000. San Diego has had the second-largest increase since then, only slightly behind Miami’s.

There is no specific reason San Diego has done so well recently. California’s population has dropped in the past two years, while Florida, Texas, and Arizona have had increases measured on the same basis. Usually, as people leave an area, the improvement in real estate prices either slows or drops. San Diego residents should count themselves as lucky.

See which city has the most expensive houses in America.