Source: CNBC —
The U.S. housing market cooled off pretty dramatically last year, after mortgage rates more than doubled from historic lows. Home prices, however, have been stickier.
Prices began falling last June, but are still higher than they were a year ago. Now, as demand appears to be coming back into the market, due to a slight drop in mortgage rates, prices are pushing back.
In December, the latest read, U.S. home prices were 6.9% higher year over year, according to CoreLogic. That was the lowest annual appreciation rate since the late summer of 2020. Last April, annual price appreciation hit a high of 20%.
Falling home prices were reflecting weaker housing demand, as inflation, job cuts and uncertainty in the economy piled onto the barrier put up by higher mortgage rates. But mortgage rates began to fall in December, and prices reacted immediately. The cooling continued, but not as much as in the months before.
“While prices continued to fall from November, the rate of decline was lower than that seen in the summer and still adds up to only a 3% cumulative drop in prices since last spring’s peak,” said Selma Hepp, chief economist at CoreLogic.
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