U.S. Home Prices Continue to Rise on Housing Imbalances, Radian Home Price Index Reveals

After a strong finish to the first half of 2020, home prices across the United States rose at a slower pace in July as compared to June. According to Radian Home Price Index (HPI) data released today by Red Bell Real Estate, LLC, a Radian Group Inc. company (NYSE:RDN), home prices nationally rose from June 2020 to July 2020 at an annualized rate of +6.8 percent.

The Radian HPI also rose +8.1 percent year-over-year (August 2019 to July 2020), which was unchanged from the year-over-year increase recorded last month. Through the first seven months of 2020, the average monthly annualized increase was +7.8 percent with each of the last four months reporting above average appreciation. The Radian HPI is the most comprehensive and timely measure of U.S. housing market prices and conditions. The Radian HPI is calculated based on the estimated values of more than 70 million unique addresses each month, covering all single-family property types and geographies.

“Home prices across the U.S. continued an impressive appreciation run in July. When contrasting the effect on home prices of negative COVID headwinds on the U.S. consumer and economy versus the trifecta of historic low mortgage rates, near record low supply of homes for sale and increased demand for homeownership, so far home prices have come out on top,” noted Steve Gaenzler, SVP of Data and Analytics. “While not contained in current data, recent changes to housing policy from the White House, Congress and the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) related to future stimulus and forbearance provisions, along with continued unknowns related to COVID-19 may begin to weigh on housing in coming months,” added Gaenzler.

NATIONAL DATA AND TRENDS

• Median home price in the U.S. rose to $258,206
• Home prices rose an annualized +6.8 percent over the last three months

Nationally, the median estimated price for single-family and condominium homes rose to $258,206. Across the U.S., home prices nationally rose +6.8 percent over the prior three months, a slight increase over the second quarter. On-going imbalances between housing supply and demand continue to provide solid support for home prices. On the demand side, July 2020 recorded the highest level of monthly home sale transactions over the last decade. Conversely, supply of homes in July, as measured by the count of listings of homes for sale, was -15 percent below the average monthly count over the last 5-years, and nearly -27 percent below the peak monthly listing count over the same period. Strong demand for the limited supply also pushed the average number of days that a property for sale has been listed to 114 days, the shortest stay in over a decade.