Home prices soared in all 50 major metros in December
A Redfin report found that Cleveland saw the biggest jump in December, as the budget-friendly market heats up.
The US housing-affordability crisis has long vexed its national leaders — so much so that it landed on President Trump’s long list of Day 1 executive orders, aiming to “lower the cost of housing and expand housing supply.”
But, for now, house prices are still going up. Per Redfin’s latest report, the median US home price jumped 6.3% year over year in December, with prices rising in all 50 of the most populous metros, the first time that’s happened since May 2022’s pandemic home-buying boom.
What’s most remarkable about the continued rise in house prices is that it’s happening despite the fact that we’re no longer in the low-interest-rate era that dominated much of the 2012-2022 decade — the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate in the US shot past 7% again last week, a far cry from the ~3% level in 2021. Meanwhile, inventories simply can’t keep up with demand, new housing construction continues to fall, and many home sellers are willing to hold out for the price they want, having seen their neighbors sell for thousands over the asking price during the pandemic, per Redfin.
Interestingly, the biggest price surges aren’t happening in New York or LA, but rather in the traditionally budget-friendly Midwest: Cleveland (+15%) and Milwaukee (+14.5%) led the pack, while Chicago (+11.1%) and Warren (+10.3%) ranked fifth and sixth, respectively.
Metros with the smallest price jumps were in Florida and Texas — states that also happened to build the most new homes in the country in 2023, per the US Census Bureau, to meet a flurry of pandemic-era newcomers. Additionally, the average cost of home insurance in Florida is now ~2.5x the national average, which might be tempering demand in the state.
