Here’s a city-by-city look at house prices, as the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite showed a 0.9% monthly gain for March and a 5% year-on-year gain. Note that the cities are those selected by the Case-Shiller report, and that major metropolitan areas including Houston and Philadelphia are not included. CityMonthly gainYearly gainAtlanta0.8%5.4%Boston0.4%4.6%Charlotte0.9%5.8%Chicago0.9%3.4%Cleveland0.4%1.0%Dallas1.8%9.3%Denver1.4%10.0%Detroit0.8%4.2%Las Vegas1.1%5.7%Los Angeles0.8%5.5%Miami1.0%8.7%Minneapolis0.9%3.0%New York-0.1%2.7%Phoenix0.6%3.1%Portland1.1%6.9%San Diego1.3%4.8%San Francisco3.0%10.3%Seattle2.3%7.5%Tampa1.4%8.1%Washington0.8%1.0%• Seasonally adjusted, the March home price gain was an even stronger 1%. • From the peak, prices are still down 16%. But they’re up 31% from their March 2012 lows. • San Francisco’s 10.3% annual gain is its first double digit year-over-year increase since July 2014. • Unlike other measures of home prices, the Case-Shiller report includes three months of transactions — in this case, January, February and March. The result however isn’t much different from other indicators. The latest CoreLogic home price report showed a 5.9% gain in the 12 months to March, while the FHFA house price report showed a 5.2% gain in the 12 months to March. • David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee for S&P Dow Jones Indices, discussed whether prices were in a bubble. “The only way you can be sure of a bubble is looking back after it’s over. The average 12-month rise in inflation-adjusted home prices since 1975 is about 1% per year compared to the current 4.1% pace, arguing for a bubble. However, the annual rate of increase halved in the last year, as shown in the first chart. Home prices are currently rising more quickly than either per capita personal income (3.1%) or wages (2.2%), narrowing the pool of future home-buyers. All of this suggests that some future moderation in home prices gains is likely. Moreover, consumer debt levels seem to be manageable. I would describe this as a rebound in home prices, not bubble and not a reason to be fearful.”
It's getting to where many younger and lower income people in the San Francisco area cannot afford to buy any home.
Prices are definitely out of control in some areas of the country. Thankfully, I have really no desire to live in a large city. Don't get me wrong, I love to travel and see new areas of the country, and I love visiting big cities. But when it comes to where I reside, I definitely prefer to live in a smaller community or a suburban area.
It would be interesting to get a list of properties by location in a city, and then find out the average price in a given area. Then find out how much location itself matters. So if you had house A, determine how far away it is from schools, shopping malls etc. Then see exactly how it factors into price. With google maps one should be able to do this for an entire city. Then see how it affects prices from city to city. That would be an interesting project.
I think the housing situation in America in general is at the point where no one can afford it. Who wants to work two or three jobs for the next 20 years just to pay off their over inflated houses? That's if couples and family's actually last that long and continue to work there whole lives. Most people break up and go their own ways.
