This week, CoreLogic released their Home Price Index report for January 2020, which revealed that prices rose over both last year’s and last month’s numbers.
Compared to January 2019, national home prices have grown by 4% and from December 2019 to January 2020, home prices grew by 0.1%.
Using this data, CoreLogic predicted that house prices will continue to rise, and from January to February, we can expect to see a 0.2% increase in national averages. The firm also forecasted that, from January 2020 to January 2021, there will be a projected 5.4% increase in sales prices.
“January marked the third consecutive month that annual home price growth accelerated in our national index, as low mortgage rates and rising income supported home sales,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. “In February, mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in more than three years, which likely will spur additional home shopping activity and price appreciation.”
Corelogic’s Market Condition Indicators were used to analyze housing values in the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, and based on current housing stock, 33% of markets have overvalued housing markets as of 2020. Meanwhile, 29% were undervalued and 38% were at value.
In the monthly report, CoreLogic also surveyed a population of millennials to gather data on their perspective of the homebuying process. The study found that 44% of millennials view homebuying as unaffordable, but this outlook was significantly more optimistic than the 61% of older generations who felt the same way.
“Despite a slowdown in home price growth last summer, annual appreciation is beginning to stabilize,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “While just under half of millennials feel confident they can afford to purchase a home, housing starts have shot up, and mortgage rates have come down, which has helped improve affordability and spur overall housing demand.”