Login
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently released the National Housing Market Indicators (NHMI) for the third quarter of 2018. This quarterly publication gives a review of sales transactions through the third quarter and house price trends through November 2018. Read on for some of the key highlights of the report, including housing trends to look out for in the future.
Key Highlights
- As of November 2018, the national house price boom has continued for 25 quarters, though at a slower pace.
- The AEI’s House Appreciation Index for 73 metro areas increased 5.0 percent, which is down from 7.4 percent in the previous year.
- Houses appreciated at an increased pace, at 6.6 percent, in the low price tier, comprising 27 percent of the total market.
- In the high price tier, making up 9 percent of the market, house prices appreciated slowly at 1.7 percent.
- A little over 6 million sales transactions were reported for the four quarters ending in 2018:Q3.
- Sales transactions decreased 0.6 percent in the third quarter compared to the previous year.
- Mortgage risk rose 0.4 percentage points in September 2018 from the year prior.
- Affordability of renting fell to its lowest level since the index was first recorded in the 4th quarter of 2000.
In regards to trends, AEI reports that the market is becoming more bifurcated according to analysis of price tier and metro areas. Particularly, they predict that buyers are moving away from congested larger cities in favor of smaller or medium sized areas where house price appreciation is at a steady pace.
Read the full NHMI monthly update here.