Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Make a sustaining gift today to support local journalism!

Another Report Shows Home Prices Taking A Big Jump

A sale pending sign in front of a home in San Francisco on May 28.
Justin Sullivan
/
Getty Images
A sale pending sign in front of a home in San Francisco on May 28.

One week after the S&P/Case-Shiller indices showed a 10.9 percent jump in U.S. home prices from March 2012 to March 2013 — the biggest year-over-year gain in that data since April 2006 — there's another report showing a similar jump in April.

CoreLogic, which collects data on real estate sales, says home prices were up 12.1 percent in April vs. April 2012. According to The Associated Press, it's the largest year-over-year increase in CoreLogic's data since February 2006.

Reuters notes that "prices have been gaining for over a year as the housing market turned a corner, helped by low interest rates, a pick up in sales and less available supply."

Economists watch home sales closely. They're a major indicator of consumer confidence. Also, when home sales rise, the ripple effects spread out through the economy as new owners buy furniture and appliances or put money into renovations and repairs.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.