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.
