When you move to a place like California, you get used to joking about absurd housing costs with the folks back home. But this housing horror story recently came from the opposite end of the line. Family members in Lexington, Kentucky, report that a nearby listing immediately prompted a line of eager buyers and ended in a bidding war of cash offers. The home ultimately went for 20 percent above the asking price and 76 percent above the 2020 assessed value. All this in a town that once bragged about its affordability.
That’s just an anecdote, sure, but the data aren’t much more encouraging. According to the Case-Schiller U.S. Home Price Index, prices jumped by 13.2 percent over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. This price escalation has played out in high-cost states such as California, where prices rose by over 17 percent. Yet even in historically affordable states like Texas, homes are now selling for well above list price, with Austin experiencing the most acute year-over-year home-price increases in the U.S.
Read Full Article »