Rising rates drive US home prices to 15-year high

Annual home price appreciation remained on fire in February, rising to its highest level in more than 15 years. Nationwide, home prices grew at a record year-over-year rate of 11.6% in February, according to Black Knight. Moreover, daily home sales data by the company’s Collateral Analytics group showed an annual 15.9% jump in the median single-family sales price. “Multiple years of constrained housing inventory and historically low-interest rates have helped fuel this fire to the point where nearly 75% of the 100 largest US markets have seen annual home price growth of 10% or higher,” said Black Knight data & analytics president Ben Graboske. “What’s more, Collateral Analytics’ Market Conditions Report shows the housing markets in 75% of ZIP codes rated either ‘Strong’ or ‘Hot’ based on underlying market metrics. Only 7% are characterized as ‘Normal.’ The shar