Rising Home Prices In Southwest Still Outpace Rest Of Country

By Heather van Blokland
Published: Sunday, July 28, 2019 - 5:05am
Updated: Monday, July 29, 2019 - 10:01am
Sky Schaudt/KJZZ
A home for sale in Phoenix in July 2019.

Home prices continue to rise nationwide. Numbers just released for May show Arizona and Colorado lead the nation in housing price gains. Compared to May 2018, housing prices are up 5% year over year. That's according to the latest monthly House Price Index from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

"If I tell you there's like 15,000 — just under 16,000 homes for sale in Maricopa County, that's just a number. But it makes more sense if I tell you back in 2007-2008, a healthy market had about thirty-thousand listings at that time," said Bea Kravetz, a real estate agent Phoenix. She said housing prices keep rising because there's not enough houses for sale — a low inventory.

The monthly index is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and does not include high-end homes bought with jumbo loans or cash sales.

The report highlights that the 12-month changes were all positive, with the West South Central Division posting the smallest gain of 3.6%, and the Mountain Division leading the way with a 6.7% increase.

These are the states located in each division are:

  • South Atlantic Division: Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia.
  • North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida.
  • East South Central Division: Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama.
  • West South Central: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana.
  • Mountain: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico.
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