Overall housing value growth continued in the third quarter, as some markets more than doubled the national average, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Home Price Index.
Housing prices shot up 7.8% in the third quarter from the year before and 3.1% from the second quarter. Prices have now grown annually in every quarter since 1Q 2012 and quarterly since 3Q 2011. Additionally, September’s prices increased 1.7% from August. The inventory crisis directly led to intensified competition and recent spikes in property values.
“House prices recorded their strongest quarterly gain in the history of the FHFA HPI purchase-only series in the third quarter of 2020,” Lynn Fisher, deputy director of the division of research and statistics at the FHFA, said in a press release. “Relative to a year ago, prices were up 7.8% during the quarter — the fastest year-over-year rate of appreciation since 2006. Monthly data indicate that prices continued to accelerate during the quarter, reaching 9.1% in September, as demand continues to outpace the supply of homes available for sale.”
Every state experienced annual home price appreciation but Idaho led them all with a 14.4% growth. Arizona followed at 11.1%, then Washington at 10.8%. North Dakota home values appreciated the least at 4%, behind 4.7% in Iowa and 4.8% in Louisiana.
Idaho also boasted the largest growth rate among the largest 100 metropolitan areas. Home prices in Boise jumped 16.4% year-over-year in the third quarter. Tacoma, Wash., trailed in second place at 12.8% and Phoenix came in third at 12%. Baton Rouge, La., sat at the other end of the spectrum, climbing 2.1% from the third quarter of 2019. Lake County, Ill., was next at 2.8% followed by 3% in Houston. All top 100 housing markets had annual growth in each of the last four quarters.
