As home sales stagnated in the spring, a nationwide seller’s market saw prices continue to skyrocket.
Housing prices broke records for the third consecutive month in May, surging 16.6 percent over May 2020 — the highest year-over-year jump in more than 30 years of data collected by the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index.
“A month ago, I described April’s performance as ‘truly extraordinary,’ and this month I find myself running out of superlatives,” said Craig Lazzara, managing director and global head of index investment strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
In April, prices had jumped 14.8 percent year-over-year, besting March’s then-record 13.2 percent annual increase. The national composite index is now 38 percent higher than its previous peak in July 2006.
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Analysts attribute the continued strength to pandemic-spurred migration and a paucity of listings. In April, an analysis by Freddie Mac estimated the housing market would need 3.8 million more single-family homes to meet current demand.
The West and Southwest saw the sharpest increases in the Case-Shiller report.
Phoenix, San Diego and Seattle brought the greatest year-over-year gains, each jumping over 23 percent.
The same five cities that reported their all-time highest annual gains in April — Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver and Seattle — set new records in May.
But the growth extended nationwide. Prices for all 20 cities in Case-Shiller’s index rose, both before and after seasonal adjustments.
“The market’s strength continues to be broadly based,” said Lazzara. “Prices in 18 of our 20 cities now stand at all-time highs.”