Clear Capital: Pacific Northwest Home Prices ‘Red Hot’

Clear Capital, Reno, Nev., said national home prices growth continues to outpace last year’s metrics, with the Pacific Northwest standing out as the hottest market.

The company’s monthly Home Data Index report said nationally, quarter-over-quarter home price growth pushed the 1.0% mark, while annual price change held steady at 6.3% in May, no change since April.

Clear Capital said the Pacific Northwest stands out as the top performing region with its two largest cities, Seattle and Portland, already boasting impressive quarterly gains. “The western region, with below-average saturation of distressed properties combined with narrowing affordability and year-over-year price increases well over the 10% mark will present a challenge for homebuyers,” the report said.

Regionally, the West continues to lead the rest of the country with quarterly home price growth at 1.2% and annual growth in the region at 8.0%. Quarterly growth in other regions remains “healthy” for this time of year, Clear Capital said, as the South, Midwest and Northeast continued to outperform quarterly and annual metrics.

The report said Seattle is the fastest growing major metropolitan housing market in the country once again, with quarterly growth jumping .3% to 1.9% since April. Annual growth in Seattle is also setting the pace for the rest of the nation at 12.4%, twice as fast as the 6.2% national average through May. Also in the top five markets is nearby Portland, Ore., where quarterly price growth is currently paced at 1.5%, while annual growth is also outpacing the national average at 11.5% over the past year.

The report also noted Jacksonville boasted an impressive quarterly price increase of 1.9%, a jump of 0.2% from 1.7% since April. Distressed properties are a key contributing factor for such performant growth in the Jacksonville housing market–distressed saturation there is 15.8%, down from 26.2% a year ago, a decrease of more than 10% in a single year.

On the other hand, Dallas dropped out of top-performing markets and joineds the 15 slowest-growing housing markets in the nation in April. Dallas was the nation’s top performing market just five months ago with home prices increasing at a rate of 1.5% per quarter, but current quarterly growth rates are almost half that at 0.8%. However, home price changes in Dallas are still a standout from the rest of the nation at 9.1% annual growth.