Southern California home values had their sharpest gains in eight years in Los Angeles County in 2021, new housing figures released Tuesday, Jan. 4, show. In Orange County and the Inland Empire, home prices shot up by the greatest amount in more than 1 ½ decades.
The average home price gain was 12% in Los Angeles County from January through November, 14.8% in Orange County and 20.6% in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to the CoreLogic Home Price Index.
That’s the biggest gain since 2013 in L.A. County, the biggest since 2004 in the Inland Empire and the biggest since 2003 in Orange County.
November alone featured some of the biggest year-over-year increases of 2021. Single-family home prices were up 14.2% in November in L.A. County, 19.9% in Orange County and 24.3% in the Inland Empire.
Nationally, house prices increased 18.1% in November from the year before, a pace that will “exacerbate ongoing affordability challenges into the new year and beyond,” CoreLogic reported.
The Irvine-based real estate data firm reported 2021 was a record-breaking year for U.S. home price growth. At the extreme end of the price appreciation spectrum, prices jumped almost 37% in Naples, Fla., and 33% in Twin Falls, Idaho.
CoreLogic’s CEO called 2021 “the most robust seller’s markets in a generation,” spurred by record-low mortgage rates.Rising mortgage rates in the coming year will slow the pace of price gains. CoreLogic forecast single-family home price gains will slow to 2.8% by November 2022.
“Higher rates will intensify buyer affordability challenges, especially in overvalued local markets,” said CoreLogic Chief Economist Frank Nothaft.
