HOUSTON – (By Dale King, Realty News Report) – Prices of homes continue to rise throughout the U.S., but at a slower rate than in past years, says the March 2019 Home Price Report drafted by CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider.
That’s not terrific news for potential homeowners. But it’s really bad for renters who feel the price hikes are keeping them out of the home-buying market.
The CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI) and HPI Forecast for March 2019 show home prices rose both year-over-year and month-over-month. Home prices rose nationally by 3.7% year-over-year from March 2018 to March 2019. On a month-over-month basis, prices increased by just 1% in March 2019 from February 2019.
The report’s statistics for the Houston market, including Houston, the Woodlands and Sugar Land, show that home prices rose 3.5% year-over-year from March 2018 to March 2019. The year-over-year percentage for the State of Texas was 3.4%.
Prices roared in the Las Vegas area, soaring 8 percent in the previous 12 months, but the report dubs this area “overvalued.” That same adjective was applied in the survey to the Denver area (4.1%); the Houston range; Miami-Kendall expanse and Washington, D.C. region, both at 3%.
Only the year-over-year price growth for the Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago areas was considered “normal.” Those figures were in the low to high 2% range.
The document says price hikes in the housing market are preventing renters from crossing over into the home-buying arena.
During the first quarter of 2019, CoreLogic, together with RTi Research of Norwalk, Conn., conducted a survey measuring consumer-housing sentiment in high-priced markets. Survey respondents indicated high home prices have an impact on high rental prices as well. Nearly 76% of renters and buyers in high-priced markets agreed housing prices in these locations appeared to be driving rental rates up, jacking up their rent and, in turn, preventing them from being able to afford a home.
“The cost of either buying or renting in expensive markets puts a significant strain on most consumers,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Nearly half of survey respondents – 44% of renters – cited the cost to rent in high-priced housing markets as the number one barrier to entry into homeownership. This is potentially forcing renters to wait longer to have the necessary down payment in these communities.”
A graph in the March 2019 Home Price Report offers the following information from renters questioned for the survey:
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44% feel they cannot afford a down payment.
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43% feel they “can’t afford a home.”
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40% felt there were “no affordable homes where I want to live.”
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35% said: “My current living situation meets my needs.”
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17% said: “I would not qualify for a mortgage.”
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14% said they “like the mobility that renting gives me.