CoreLogic: Home Price Gains Averaged 15% in 2021

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said consumer desire for homeownership against persistently low supply of for-sale homes created one of the hottest housing markets in decades in 2021 — and spurred record-breaking home price growth.

The company’s monthly Home Price Index reported annual home price appreciation at 18.5 percent in December. And it said home price gains averaged 15 percent in 2021—up from 6 percent in 2020.

Chart courtesy CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif.

However, the CoreLogic HPI Forecast said while price gains will likely continue the year above 10 percent, they are projected to slow to 3.5 precent by December.

The report noted in 2021 home price growth in 2021 started off at 10% in the first quarter, steadily increasing and ending the year with an increase of 18% for the fourth quarter.

“Much of what we’ve seen in the run-up of home prices over the last year has been the result of a perfect storm of supply and demand pressures,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist with CoreLogic. “As we move further into 2022, economic factors – such as new home building and a rise in mortgage rates – are in motion to help relieve some of this pressure and steadily temper the rapid home price acceleration seen in 2021.”

The report said on a month-over-month basis, home prices increased by 1.3% from November. In December, annual appreciation of detached properties (19.7%) was 5.5 percentage points higher than that of attached properties (14.2%).

Naples, Fla., logged the highest year-over-year home price increase at 37.6%. Punta Gorda, Fla., had the second-highest ranking at 35.7%. At the state level, the Southern, Southwest and Mountain West regions continued to dominate the top three spots for national home price growth, with Arizona leading at 28.4%. Florida ranked second with a 27.1% growth, followed by Utah at 25.2%.