Real estate prices have risen almost 20% over the past several months. According to the carefully followed S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, in November home prices rose 18.8% compared to the same month a year ago. Among the top 20 markets, Phoenix had the largest increase at 32.2%.
The American residential real estate market may have had the best year on record in 2021. People who left large coastal cities like New York and San Francisco drove up prices in dozens of mid-sized cities inland. Historically low mortgage rates helped fuel the activity. Also, millions of people who began to work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic will not return to offices.
People who sold their homes last year made remarkable amounts of money. According to the ATTOM Year-End 2021 U.S. Home Sales Report, the median price for houses sold nationwide was $94,092. That was up 45% from 2020, and it was a 45.3% return on investment compared to the original price of the home. That profit margin was the largest since 2008.
Todd Teta, chief product officer at ATTOM, commented:
What a year 2021 was for home sellers and the housing market all around the U.S. Prices went through the roof, kicking profits and profit margins up at a pace not seen for at least a decade. All that happened as the virus pandemic raged on, which actually helped drive the increases instead of stifle them.
The study examined 173 metro areas in the United States with populations of over 200,000 people. These metros had the largest increase in investment returns:
- Salisbury, Md. (267.2%)
- Lafayette, La. (227.4%)
- Montgomery, Ala. (195.4%)
- Mobile, Ala. (179.9%)
- Augusta, Ga. (167.7%)
- Raleigh, N.C. (80.6%)
- Oklahoma City, Okla. (64.4%)
- Virginia Beach, Va. (62.6%)
- Washington, D.C. (60.2%)
- Chicago, Ill. (59.4%)
Click here to see the cities where buying a home is most expensive.
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