US Home Prices Accelerate At Fastest Pace Since 2014

According to the latest data from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller, US home prices in the top 20 cities rose at a stunning 10.10% year-over-year – its fastest acceleration since 2014…

Source: Bloomberg

That is a price rise that is five times The Fed’s ‘mandated’ level of inflation.

Phoenix, San Diego and Seattle posted the biggest gains in prices. Nationally, the Case-Shiller index jumped 10.4% in December, also the biggest surge since 2014.

Historically low mortgage rates have fueled a pandemic housing rally, with scant inventory of homes to buy helping to boost prices.

As in the housing boom of the mid-2000s, home prices are rising faster than personal incomes. Changes in the Home Price Index and the Income Index from 1991 to 2020:

Will The Fed never learn? This pump-a-thon didn’t end well before… and with exponentially more debt and leverage now, it will end in even more wealth transfer and socialism for the rich…and this time, the paeons pitchforks are already sharpened.

We also note that the moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures are also distorting the market. There’s no question these policies are needed to keep people from being displaced in the midst of a pandemic, but they will eventually have to be lifted and it is not clear what will happen when they do.