Record Home Price Appreciation Led by Sun Belt States in February

Home Price Index Highlights: February 2022

• National home prices increased 20% year over year in February.
• Florida’s Gulf Coast logged the highest annual increases in February.

Overall HPI Growth

National home prices increased 20% year over year in February 2022, according to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI®) Report. The February 2022 HPI gain was up from the February 2021 gain of 10% and was the highest 12-month growth in the U.S. index since the series began in 1976. While home price growth is expected to slow over the next 12 months, the CoreLogic HPI Forecast shows that the year-over-year change in the HPI will remain in the double digits for at least the first three quarters 2022.

HPI Growth by Price and Property Type Tiers

CoreLogic analyzes four individual home-price tiers that are calculated relative to the median national home sale price. Home price growth remained at a high level for all four price tiers in February. The lowest price tier increased 21.2% year over year in February 2022, compared with 20.6% for the low- to middle-price tier, 20.8% for the middle- to moderate-price tier and 20.4% for the high-price tier.

CoreLogic also provides the HPI separately for detached — or freestanding — properties and attached properties (such as condos or townhouses). Appreciation for detached properties (21.1%) was 1.3 times that of attached properties (16.3%) in February. The gap in HPI growth between detached and attached properties widened after the pandemic began as remote work allowed employees to buy homes farther from their office and in areas where property prices and population density are lower and detached housing is more common. This gap has narrowed since the spring of 2021 and in February was the smallest in 15 months.

State- and Metro-Level Results

Figure 2 shows the year-over-year HPI growth in February 2022 for the five highest- and lowest-appreciating states. While all states showed annual increases in HPI in February, appreciation was strongest in Florida, with an increase of 29.1%, followed by Arizona (+28.6%) and Nevada (+25.8%). At the low end, Washington, saw home prices increase 5.4%, and New York increased 8.3%. Population growth in some states added to homebuying demand in 2021, pushing up home prices. Arizona, Florida, Utah and Nevada were all in the top 10 for percentage increase in population growth in 2021 .

The surge in home price appreciation was felt across the country, with all but five states showing higher appreciation in February 2022 than in February 2021. Florida had the biggest acceleration in home price growth from February 2021 (+9.7%) to February 2022 (+29.1%). Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Maine and Rhode Island saw a slowdown in annual appreciation.

All metropolitan areas had year-over-year increases in home prices in February. Florida had six metros in the top 10 for highest appreciation, led by Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island with an increase of 41.4% and followed by Cape Coral-Fort Myers at 40% and Punta Gorda at 37.9%. The two metropolitan areas with the lowest year-over-year increases were both in upstate New York: Elmira had an increase of 3% and Ithaca had an increase of 5.2%.

U.S. home price growth registered a year-over-year increase of 20% in February, a series high and marking one year of consecutive double-digit gains. Annual home prices have grown every month for more than a decade since appreciation bottomed out in early 2012, despite mortgage rates trending upward in recent months. While a record-low number of homes for sale remains the primary culprit for the rapid price gains, the CoreLogic HPI Forecast shows national year-over-year appreciation slowing to 5% by February 2023, as rising interest rates are expected to sideline even more buyers.

For more information on home price insights and trends, check out our latest HPI Report.

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