Home prices are climbing at their swiftest pace in more than a decade, with a growing market demand for newly-built homes.
According to the National Association of Home Builders, home prices are seeing double-digit jumps throughout the country.
The Denver market is up by 10%, while Phoenix saw an unprecedented 15.8% gain, one of the largest in the country.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors is reporting that the average home price in the U.S. has now reached the $313,000 mark.
Looking at the trend on a yearly basis, counties throughout Arizona saw home prices increase by up to 27%; Santa Fe County in New Mexico and Denver County in Colorado have also seen double-digit increases.
Home prices were generally down throughout the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, and the eastern half of Montana.
The housing boom, notes the Wall Street Journal, has been a special benefit to current homeowners, “while making it more difficult for first-time buyers and others with less income to enter the market.”
According to an NAHB survey, a notable shift in the percentage of buyers looking for homes in the outer suburbs most likely means an increasing demand for new construction.
The NAHB survey, What Home Buyers Really Want, 2021, reveals that 60% of would-be buyers are looking for new homes, significantly up from 54% in 2018.
The survey additionally indicated that the new home preference was at its highest since 2007.
Adds the survey: Generation X buyers, at 68%, are currently the most likely to want a new home; followed by Millennials at 65%, and Baby Boomers at 55%.
By Garry Boulard
