Home prices rose more than 6 percent year-to-year in February

Home prices saw an increase of 6.7 percent in February 2018, compared to February 2017.

According to CoreLogic’s Home Price Insights for February, month-to-month, home prices jumped 1 percent from January. The CoreLogic team predicts prices will remain the same for March, but go up 4.7 percent in February 2019.

In Pennsylvania, home price gains weren’t as significant. The report found that home prices rose 3.9 percent from February 2017, and decreased 0.2 percent from January 2018. It is predicted that prices will go up 0.3 percent in March, and rise 4.7 percent, matching the national average, in February 2019.

“Family income is rising more slowly than home prices and mortgage rates, meaning that the mortgage payment takes a bigger bite out of income for new homebuyers,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “CoreLogic’s Market Conditions Indicator has identified nearly one-half of the 50 largest metropolitan areas as overvalued. Often buyers are lulled into thinking these high-priced markets will continue, but we find that overvalued markets will tend to have a slowdown in price growth.”

Across the country’s largest metropolitan areas, 34 percent were overvalued. In the top 50 metro areas, 30 percent were undervalued and 36 percent were at value. The analysis defines overvalued as a market in which home prices are at least 10 percent higher than the long-term, sustainable level, while an undervalued  market is one in which home prices are at least 10 percent below the sustainable level.

In Pennsylvania, the majority of metropolitan areas were undervalued, with just State College considered the only overvalued metro area in the commonwealth.