Despite a polar vortex that has affected much of the continental U.S. this winter, home prices have not showed any signs of cooling.
Nationwide, home prices were up nearly 14% year-over-year in November in both the 10-city and 20-city composites tracked by home price data hub Case-Shiller.
“November was a good month for home prices,” said David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a press release. “Despite the slight decline, the 10-City and 20-City Composites showed their best November performance since 2005.”
Blitzer pointed to several areas where prices have risen continually for nearly two years, despite typical seasonal trends.
“Prices typically weaken as we move closer to the winter,” he said. “Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Phoenix stand out as they have posted 20 or more consecutive monthly gains.”
In November, the composites declined .1% overall, marking the first decrease since November 2012. However, nine of the 20 composite cities saw positive returns, including Boston and Cleveland. Dallas set a new index high while Minneapolis and San Diego remained flat and Denver saw a relative downturn of .6%.
In terms of the national outlook, the increase has been beneficial to homeowners who are gaining home equity due to home price appreciation, though it will likely taper off.
“Home prices continue to rise despite last May’s jump in mortgage interest rates,” Blitzer said. “…Combined with low inflation — 1.5% in 2013 – home owners are enjoying real appreciation and rising equity values. While housing will make further contributions to the economy in 2014, the pace of price gains is likely to slow during the year.”
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
