Home prices in the Sarasota-Bradenton-North Port metropolitan area rose by 4.6 percent in November compared with the same month in 2016. But on a month-over-month basis, November prices increased by only 0.5 percent from October, including distressed sales.
A monthly report from CoreLogic, released Tuesday, showed that its national Home Price Index rose by 7 percent year-over-year. On a month-over-month basis, home prices across the country grew by 1 percent in November, according to the CoreLogic, a global property information and analytics provider.
Despite the increases, November's prices remain 17.1 percent below the 2006 peak at the height of the real estate boom. But the company forecasts that prices will continue to rise.
From October 2016 to October 2017, CoreLogic's Home Price Index showed that single-family home prices increased by 3.8 percent in the local market.
November was the fourth consecutive month of national year-over-year home price growth of more than 6 percent, CoreLogic said, citing a continued lack of affordable housing stock.
All states posted year-over-year price gains in November 2017. Washington, Nevada, Utah and Idaho led the way, posting 12-month price gains of 10 percent or more.
“Rising home prices are good news for home sellers but add to the challenges that home buyers face,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Growing numbers of first-time buyers find limited for-sale inventory for lower-priced homes, leading to both higher rates of price growth for ‘starter’ homes and further erosion of affordability.”
CoreLogic figures also show that Southwest Florida's housing market is overvalued. The real estate data company's Market Conditions Indicators compares home prices with their long-run, sustainable levels supported by local market fundamentals such as disposable income. It labels a market is overvalued if home prices are at least 10 percent higher than the long-term, sustainable level.
CoreLogic also forecast that home prices in Florida will increase 6 to 9 percent by November 2018, leading the nation in appreciation along with California and Nevada.
The average home price across the country will increase 4.2 percent by then, the company said.
“Without a significant surge in new building and affordable housing stock, the relatively high level of growth in home prices of recent years will continue in most markets,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Although policymakers are increasingly looking for ways to address the lack of affordable housing, much more needs to be done soon to see a significant improvement over the medium term.”