U.S. house prices were up 4.9 percent in Q2 compared to the first quarter of 2021, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index (FHFA HPI). Home prices rose 17.4 percent from the second quarter of 2020 to the second quarter of 2021.
Also of note coming out of the FHFA data was that house prices rose in all 50 states and the District of Columbia between the second quarters of 2020 and 2021. The five states with the highest annual appreciation were: Idaho (37.1 percent), Utah (28.3 percent), Arizona (23.9 percent), Montana (23.7 percent) and Rhode Island (23.7 percent).
The states showing the lowest annual appreciation were Alaska (8.2 percent), North Dakota (8.7 percent), Louisiana (9.6 percent), Mississippi (11.4 percent) and Iowa (11.5 percent).
On the metro level, a number of California cities made the top 100 list of major gains, including Stockton (no. 5), Oakland (no. 7), Riverside/San Bernardino (no. 8), Sacramento (no. 14), San Diego (no. 17), Fresno (no. 23), San Jose (no. 38), Thousand Oaks/Ventura (no. 40), Los Angeles/Long Beach (no. 51), Bakersfield (no. 63), Anaheim/Irvine (no. 67) and San Francisco (no. 100).
“During the second quarter, house prices peaked in June with an 18.8 percent growth rate compared to a year ago,” said Dr. Lynn Fisher, Deputy Director of FHFA’s Division of Research and Statistics. “For the quarter, annual gains surpassed 20 percent in the Mountain, New England, and Pacific census divisions and in all of the top 20 metro areas.”
For more on the Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index, click here.