Home Prices Growth Continues Slow But Steady Increase In October

U.S. single-family home price growth continued to increase modestly in October, posting a 4.7%-year over-year increase, according to the latest Home Price Index (HPI™) and HPI Forecast™ for October 2023 released by CoreLogic® Tuesday.

According to the report, on a regional level, the Northeast again showed the biggest price rebound. The top five states with the highest annual appreciation in October are in that area of the country, with growth ranging from 10.3% in Connecticut to 9.3% in Maine and New Hampshire, CoreLogic stated. 

The Northeast could be enjoying renewed home price gains in part due to a largely hybrid American workforce, in which employees need to be relatively close to major urban areas to allow for commutes to the office a few times per week.

More top takeaways from the October report: 

• U.S. single-family home prices (including distressed sales) increased by 4.7% year over year in October 2023 compared with October 2022. On a month-over-month basis, home prices rose by 0.2% compared with September 2023. CoreLogic stated October was the 141st straight month of annual appreciation. 
• In October, the annual appreciation of detached properties (5%) was 1 percentage point higher than that of attached properties (4%).
• CoreLogic’s forecast shows annual U.S. home price gains slowing to 2.9% in October 2024.
• Miami posted the highest year-over-year home price increase of the country’s 20 tracked metro areas in October, at 8.8%. Detroit saw the next-highest gain (7.7%) followed by St. Louis (7.6%).
• Among states, Connecticut ranked first for annual appreciation in October (up by 10.3%), followed by New Jersey (up by 9.9%) and Rhode Island (up by 9.7%). Four states recorded year over-year home price losses: Utah (-1.6%), Idaho (-1.4%), Montana (-0.5%) and Texas (-0.2%). 

What the numbers mean:

“Home price growth maintained its upward momentum in October, which continues to reflect gains from the strong spring season and contrasts with last year’s home price declines,” said Dr. Selma Hepp, chief economist for CoreLogic. “But even with high mortgage rates, October’s price gains line up with historical trends and speak to the strength of some potential buyers’ purchasing power, as they continue to outnumber available homes for sale. Metros that are seeing relatively stronger price gains are those with higher job growth, as well as those with an influx of higher-income, in-migrating households.”