The price of a home has increased by 8% in the last year, according to a new consumer price index survey released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That price increase comes at the same time that various government agencies are reporting a plodding increased cost in consumer products. Prices climbed by 0.1% in May, a 4% increase over May of 2022.
According to the BLS survey, May also marked the 11th straight month that overall inflation has declined. The rate is now at its lowest level since 2021.
As of late this spring, the rate stood at 4.0%, down from 4.9% in May–a substantial difference from the spring of 2022 when the rate stood at 8.5%.
With decreasing inflation, analysts are also forecasting lowered mortgage rates. In a statement, Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, remarked: “Further deceleration looks likely in the upcoming months.”
Continued Yun: “We know the mortgage rates have been nearly 7% recently, but the potential for a decline is real as we progress through the year.”
The home price decline, meanwhile, has been particularly on display in the West, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Colorado, Oregon, and Idaho all saw declines of around 1%, while expensive California experienced a 2.8% drop.
A new report from the Harvard Joint Study for Housing Studies, at the same time, asserts that the rising mortgage rates of the last year “pushed homeownership out of reach for millions of renters at a time when large numbers of millennial households are at prime homebuying ages.”
The Harvard study additionally noted that the upped rates occurred just as “homeownership disparities between white households and those of color are near historic highs.”
By Garry Boulard
