US Major City Home Price Growth Was Fastest In A Year Before Lockdown

At best, Case-Shiller’s home price data is lagged seriously, but in the case of the current chaos that the US is going through, January’s home-price index data may as well be from Venus, compared to our current Mars.

Nevertheless, the Top-20-City Composite home price index rose at 3.08% YoY in January (below the 3.2% exp), its fastest rate in 12 months…

Source: Bloomberg

This is the fifth straight annual acceleration and corroborating other recent data that showed a flurry of housing market activity prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

Prices in all 20 cities rose in the year through January, led by a 6.9% jump in Phoenix and 5.1% gains in Tampa, Florida; San Diego; and Seattle.

As Bloomberg notes, the figures indicate a residential real estate market that was building momentum at the turn of the year against a backdrop of declining borrowing costs, steady job growth and warmer weather. The strength in home sales probably dissipated in March as government efforts to control the virus outbreak forced business closures and caused a dramatic surge in layoffs.