Home prices stopped the slide in February and rose for the first time in 8 months, according to the CoreLogic Home Price Index.
- M-O-M: Home prices nationwide increased by 0.8 % in February, the first increase in eight months and the biggest monthly gain since May 2022.
- Y-O-Y: Home prices are up 4.4% when compared to February 2022, down from 5.5% in January and the lowest level since February 2020.
South Still Hot. Southern states are two of the top three hottest states in the county. Florida held on to the top spot with 11.3% home price growth year-over-year followed by Maine (10.3%) and South Carolina (9.2%).
- Florida held on to the top spot thanks to Miami which is by the far the hottest metro area with 15.6% year-over-year growth. Houston is a distant second with 6.0% growth followed by Chicago (+3.3%) and Boston (+2.4%).
- Las Vegas, once the hottest market, is now the worst market having fallen into negative territory with a 1.0% dip in February. Phoenix and L.A. were down 0.1% and San Diego’s home price growth was flat.
Has Housing Bottomed? This is the argument being made by Selma Hepp, Chief Economist for CoreLogic. She said in a statement, “But while housing market challenges remain, particularly in light of mortgage rate volatility and the ongoing banking turmoil, pent-up homebuyer demand is responding favorably to lower rates in many markets…U.S. home prices rose by 0.8% in February, double the month-over-month increase historically seen and indicating that prices in most markets have already bottomed out.”