Home prices during October rose at the fastest rate in six years, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller price index.
The cost of buying a home in 20 large cities rose 7.9%, up from September’s 6.6%, while the broader metric for the entire country rose 8.4% compared with 7% in the prior month.
Home sales aren’t expected to slow much, if at all, even amid a record coronavirus outbreak. Super-low rates and the growing prospects of the economy gradually returning to normal are likely to keep demand high.
That’s good news for sellers but bad news for prospective home buyers, who are unlikely to get much of a price break in 2021.
“The data from the last several months are consistent with the view that COVID has encouraged potential buyers to move from urban apartments to suburban homes,” said Craig J. Lazzara, global head of index investment strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
