Bay Area home sales in March were the slowest the region has seen in 11 years, according to new data released Monday by real estate research firm CoreLogic. Ian Cull reports.
U.S. home prices increased at a slower pace in February, a sign that several years of outsized gains in home values have created affordability challenges in many metro areas.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 3% from a year earlier, down from an annual gain of 3.5% in January.
After the damage from the 2008 financial crisis began to fade, home values started to climb in 2012 and consistently outstripped wage growth. This made it more difficult for would-be buyers to save for a down payment and existing home owners to upgrade to a more expensive property.
Price increases were strongest in the Sunbelt, a change from past years in which the largest gains came from West Coast cities such as Seattle and San Francisco. Last Vegas reported the largest price increase at 9.7%, followed by Phoenix at 6.7% and Tampa with a 5.4%.
Meanwhile, major California metro areas lost much of their momentum. San Francisco prices rose just 1.4%, San Diego by 1.1% and Los Angeles by 1.8%. These gains are now below the gains in national average hourly earnings, which the Labor Department has reported are up 3.2%.
