Home Prices are Rising, Energized in Rural Areas

The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University released a new analysis of the FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Agency) House Price Index examining house prices for all counties outside of Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). The Index measures price changes from the sale, refinancing, and appraisal of the same properties.

Homeownership rates in non-metro areas was nearly 9 percentage points higher than in metro areas, at about 71 percent in 2015. While the analysis shows that non-metro house prices typically follow national patterns, price growth in rural areas has been slower than in the nation as a whole. The JCHS reports that these trends held across racial and ethnic groups, and for low- and moderate-income households.

Rather than stagnating, home prices outside the metropolitan areas grew considerably between 2000 and 2016. In nominal terms, non-metro home prices grew 58 percent and real non-metro home prices grew nearly 15 percent. Moreover, by the fourth quarter of 2016, nominal non-metro and rural home prices were two percent above their pre-recession peak—the same as national home prices at the same point.

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