Home Prices Jump 3.5% in September

Home prices in September saw a 3.5% rise year-to-year and an increase of 0.4% from August 2019.

According to CoreLogic, lowest-priced homes saw the biggest jump in prices, rising 5.3% year to-year, compared to just 3.1% for the highest-priced homes. The report predicts home prices will go up 5.6% year-to-year for September 2020 and rise 0.3% month-to-month for the October 2019 report.

“Mortgage rates were a full percentage point lower this September compared to a year ago, boosting affordability for first-time buyers and supporting a rise in homeownership. In addition to lower interest rates, personal income grew faster than home prices during the past year. This provided an additional lift for first-time buyer affordability and helped to boost the homeownership rate to the highest level in more than five years,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, CoreLogic’s chief economist.

Millennials are feeling more secure in the housing market, but feeling a little apprehensive about both the U.S. economy and their own finances. Twenty percent of millennials said they believe purchasing a home is affordable, however, 42% of “older” millennials (aged 30-38) who are homeowners, put down, on average, a 16% down payment, but used retirement or 401(k) funds to help cover the cost.

“All 50 states posted positive home price trends in September with the average price nationally rising 3.5%,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO, CoreLogic. “As a group, more millennials are entering the home-buying market and they report spending more money than they anticipated. This may impact their future financial planning,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic.

In Pennsylvania, the majority of metros’ housing stock continues to be either undervalued or priced at-value, while the State College metro remains overvalued.