CoreLogic: R.I. home price index up 14.8% Y/Y in March

THE RHODE ISLAND home price index increased 14.8% year over year in March, slower than the national growth rate of a record-high 20.9%, CoreLogic Inc. said on Tuesday. / PBN FILE PHOTO

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island home price index increased 14.8% year over year in March, slower than the record-high national growth rate of 20.9%, CoreLogic Inc. said on Tuesday.

Rhode Island’s HPI growth rate was the fourth-highest in New England, with Vermont leading the region at 18.4%.

The report predicts annual gains will slow to around 6% by next March, due in part to rising mortgage rates and higher home prices hampering affordability for some home shoppers. Buyers who closed on a property in March had a good chance of locking in mortgage rates around 4% or slightly lower. By late April, rates had moved up to more than 5%, a jump of about 30% from the same time last year and a trend that might derail more prospective buyers.

“The annual growth in the U.S. index was the largest we have measured in the 45-year history of the CoreLogic Home Price Index,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. “Couple that price increase with the rapid rise in mortgage rates and buyer affordability has fallen sharply. In April, 30-year fixed mortgage rates averaged nearly 2 percentage points higher than one year earlier. With the growth in home prices, that means the monthly principal and interest payment to buy the median-priced home was up about 50% in April compared with last April.”

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On a month-over-month basis, home prices nationally increased by 2.3% in March compared with February.

The year-over-year growth rate of home price index in other New England states:

  • New Hampshire 16.9%
  • Maine: 15.9%
  • Massachusetts: 13.2%
  • Connecticut: 12.4%.

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