Sky-high demand across the nation and record-low supply continued to push home prices higher in December, far faster than income growth, CNBC reports.
U.S. home prices increased 6.3% in December, compared to the same month a year earlier, according to the much-watched S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller national home prices index. That is an increase from 6.1% annual growth in November.
“The rise in home prices should be causing the same nervous wonder aimed at the stock market after its recent bout of volatility,” David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, says. “Across the 20 cities covered by S&P Corelogic Case Shiller Home Price Indices, the average increase from the financial crisis low is 62 percent; over the same period, inflation was 12.4 percent. Even considering the recovery from the financial crisis, we are experiencing a boom in home prices.”
