April was a historic month with regards to home appreciation, according to the latest Black Knight mortgage monitor report (BK)
- Home prices jumped 14.8% in April on an annualized basis. This was the biggest increase recorded since Black Knight began tracking the metric in the mid-1990s.
- Single-family homes saw the biggest jump at 15.6% while condo prices are up 10%. This was the 17th consecutive month of home price increases.
The reason for this price jump is not hard to figure out when looking at the inventory data. The number of active for-sale listings was down 53% in April from the same time last year and 60% off the 2017-2019 average for April. there is now a deficit of nearly 750,000 available homes for sale.
Important to note that even though home prices are skyrocketing low rates are helping to keep homes somewhat affordable.
- Black Knight found that it takes 20.5% of the median income to make monthly payments on the median-priced home. This is higher than the 5-year average (20.1%), but is lower than the 25-year average (23.6%).
Ben Graboske, Black Knight Data & Analytics President, said in a statement, “In recent years, 20.5% has roughly been the tipping point at which appreciation begins to decelerate, but given the severity of inventory shortages, home prices have – at least for now – continued to sharply accelerate even in the face of tightening affordability.”