According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), U.S house prices increased both year-over-year and from the third quarter of 2020 to the fourth of quarter 2020.
The agency’s House Price Index (HPI) found prices rose 10.8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2020, and up 3.8 percent compared with the third quarter of 2020. The seasonally adjusted monthly index for December was up 1.1 percent from November.
“House prices nationwide recorded the largest annual and quarterly increase in the history of the FHFA HPI,” Lynn Fisher, FHFA deputy director of the division of research and statistics, said in a release. “Low mortgage rates, pent up demand from homebuyers, and a limited housing supply propelled every region of the country to experience faster growth in 2020 compared to a year ago despite the pandemic. In particular, house prices in western states and cities saw the highest rates of growth, where annual gains often rose above 10 percent.”
The HPI also found that housing prices have risen for 38 consecutive quarters, since September 2011, and prices rose in all 50 states year-over-year. The top five areas of appreciation were Idaho (21.1 percent), Montana (15.5 percent), Arizona (14.1 percent), and Connecticut (14.1 percent). Areas with the least annual growth were the District of Columbia (1.5 percent), Louisiana (5.9 percent), Hawaii (6.1 percent), North Dakota (6.7 percent) and Illinois (7.7 percent).
Prices rose in all of the top 100 largest metropolitan areas. Annual price increases were greatest in Boise City, Idaho (23.4 percent) and weakest in San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif. (2.4 percent).