Home Prices Jumped Double-Digits in December, Highest Pace Since 2013

Despite being known as the slowest month for the housing market, December home prices advanced 10.4% from 2019 to 2020. This marks the highest gain in 7 years, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Prices Indices. CNBC reports it is also one of the highest annual gains in the index’s 30-year history. To put it in perspective, November home prices grew by 9.5% annually. Case-Shiller’s city composites both increased greatly, with the 10-city composite growing 9.8% annually and the 20-city composite seeing a 10.1% annual gain.

“2020′s 10.4% gain marks the best performance of housing prices in a calendar year since 2013,” said Craig Lazzara, managing director and global head of index investment strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “From the perspective of more than 30 years of S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller data, December’s year-over-year change ranks within the top decile of all reports.”

Phoenix, Seattle, and San Diego continued to show the strongest price gains among the 19 cities surveyed. Year-over-year prices in Phoenix rose 14.4%. In Seattle, they rose 13.6% and San Diego saw a 13% increase. Eighteen of the 19 cities reported higher price increases in the 12 months ending December 2020 versus the 12 months ending November 2020.

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