U.S. Home Prices End First Half of Year on Stronger Note, Radian Home Price Index Reveals - Seite 2

REGIONAL DATA AND TRENDS

• First-Half 2020 results are positive for all Regions
• Midwest and West are strongest Regions; Northeast and Southwest are weakest

In the first half of 2020, all six of the Regional indices recorded positive home price appreciation rates in excess of 4.5 percent (annualized). While home price appreciation slowed earlier in the second quarter, a stronger June propelled the regions higher for the quarter and half-year. Months of Supply, which helps measure the balance between supply and demand by taking the current month’s active and under contract listings and dividing them by last month's sales, stood at 4.04 months of supply in June. This was down from 4.51 months in June of last year, and also decreased from May. Declining months of supply often result in more price competition and price stability.

The Northeast recorded the slowest rate of appreciation in the first half of the year. While Connecticut continues to lag the other states in the Region, New Hampshire and Maine have experienced increasingly strong home-price momentum in 2020.

In the South, home prices in Louisiana are largely unchanged since the beginning of 2020, while Tennessee and Georgia have recorded the strongest appreciation rates. Florida, the largest state in the Region, continues to perform weaker than other states.

Utah and Washington have helped make the West the second-best performing Region in the first half of the year. California has underperformed seven of the 11 Regional states but has performed better than Nevada, Hawaii and Wyoming.

The Midwest Region continues to record the highest rates of home price appreciation in the country. Fueled by demand for lower, or more affordably priced markets, Indiana, Minnesota and Missouri have driven the Region higher. Within the Midwest, Illinois has been the weakest large-state performer.

METROPOLITAN AREA DATA AND TRENDS

• Metro areas end quarter on strong note
• 70 percent of largest Core-Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) had stronger Q2 than Q1

All of the 20 largest metro areas in the U.S recorded positive price appreciation in the second quarter and first half of 2020. A total of 14 of the 20-largest CBSAs had stronger second-quarter price appreciation rates than those recorded in the first quarter of 2020. Of the six metros recording a weaker second quarter as compared to the first, three were in California (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco) and the remaining three were in the Mid-Atlantic Region (Washington, DC; Baltimore, MD; New York, NY).