Looking at the national trend of home prices, it is clear that there is a continuous upswing in February. According to CoreLogic®’s Home Price Index (HPI), the rise is quantified as a one percent rise for month-over-month and seven percent rise year-over-year. They expect prices to continue to rise moving into March, forecasting a rise of 0.4 percent. Projecting for a full year, CoreLogic® sees a 4.7 percent increase for February 2018.
Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic®, commented on this trend observation, claiming that these increases can be attributed to “high demand, stronger employment, lean supplies and affordability.”
Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic®, also provided his insight toward specific geographic areas. Focusing on Seattle, Portland, and Denver, Nothaft distinguishes these regions as targets for increasing home prices and rents due to “high demand and limited supply.” Examining Seattle, from December to February, the CoreLogic® HPI “rose 12 percent and our single-family rent index rose 6 percent for all price tiers compared with the same period a year earlier.”
No one can be one hundred percent sure of the fate and future of the real estate market; however, it is sufficient to assume home prices and rents will continue to experience increases over the next months and years.