PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island home price index increased 14.1% year over year in February, slower than the national growth rate of 20%, CoreLogic Inc. said on Tuesday.
Rhode Island’s HPI growth rate was the third-highest in New England, trailing Vermont at 20.8% and New Hampshire at 16.2% respectively.
The report found that warmer regions of the U.S. continue to show the largest increases. Florida had the country’s strongest price growth at 29.1% in February, compared with the same month a year earlier. Arizona ranked second with 28.6% growth, while Nevada was third, at 25.8%.
The 20% national HPI growth in February marked the 12th consecutive month of double-digit gains. The report noted year-over-year price growth has been recorded every month for the past decade. While prospective buyers outnumber sellers, a record-low number of homes for sale remains the primary reason for the rapid price gains.
“New listings have not kept up with the large number of families looking to buy, leading to homes selling quickly and often above list price,” Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. ”This imbalance between an insufficient number of owners looking to sell relative to buyers searching for a home has led to the record appreciation of the past 12 months. Higher prices and mortgage rates erode buyer affordability and should dampen demand in coming months, leading to the moderation in price growth in our forecast.”
Indeed, CoreLogic said national year-over-year appreciation is expected to slow to 5% by February 2023 as rising interest rates might sideline some buyers.
On a month-over-month basis, home prices nationally increased by 2.2% in February compared with January.
The year-over-year growth rate of home price index in other New England states:
- Maine: 13.8%
- Massachusetts: 12.4%
- Connecticut: 11.8%
