Home prices nationwide increased 6.7 percent in September compared with September 2019, according to data released Tuesday.
That was the fastest year-over-year acceleration in the prices of single-family homes and condominiums since May 2014, Irvine-based CoreLogic reported in its monthly assessment of the U.S. housing market.
Nationwide home prices increased by 1.1 percent between August and September.
The lack of affordable housing, a serious problem before COVID-19 hit last spring, has been made worse by the pandemic, said Frank Nothaft, Core Logic’s chief economist.
“COVID-19 has contributed to the acute shortage of inventory as the pace of new construction slowed and older prospective sellers postponed listing their homes until after the pandemic,” Nothaft said in a statement. “Once the pandemic passes or a vaccine is widely administered, we should see a noticeable pick-up in for-sale homes. And if the economy’s recovery is sluggish next year, distressed sales may also add to market inventory.”
In the Inland Empire, home prices were up 7.7 percent year-over-year in September, and rose 1.3 percent between August and September, CoreLogic reported.