The banner headline concerning the 20-city index for July 2021 showed a 19.7% Home Price gain on an annualized basis. This is up from June's 2021 18.7% annualized gain.

Of note, July 2021 is the fourth consecutive month in which the growth rate of housing prices set a record 

Phoenix, San Diego, and Seattle reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities in July. Phoenix led the way with a 32.4% year-over-year price increase, followed by San Diego with a 27.8% increase and Seattle with a 25.5% increase. Seventeen of the 20 cities reported higher price increases in the year ending July 2021 versus the year ending June 2021.

From my professional perspective I find Phoenix's 32.4% increase led all cities for the 26th consecutive month is interesting. For those with limited historical perspective may not remember Phoenix and Las Vegas were the two housing markets that were the "poster children" of the housing bust and sub-prime mortgage debacle. 

Not surprisingly San Diego (+27.8%) and Seattle (+25.5%) were not far behind Phoenix concerning gains. However, San Diego is one of the most popular markets in California and the nation. Seattle being the HQ for Amazon and Microsoft (51,000+ employees in the area) and a manufacturing hub for Boeing with 71,000+ employees has depth concerning housing demand.

Of note I find the Phoenix housing market which has gained every month for 26 months or 2+ years running and Las Vegas of interest as these are two markets that were the poster children concerning the housing bust on steroids during The Great Recession.

Regionally prices were strongest in the Southwest (+24.2%) and West (+23.7%) as has been the situation since the end of The Great Recession. More interestingly every region logged double-digit gains and recorded all-time high-rate increases, while positive for existing homeowners challenging for those entering the market.

Increased demand and gentrification the view above is common in many older neighborhoods of Denver.

Concerning Denver, here are the #:

June to July 2021:       +1.8%

May to June 2021:      +2.3%

1-Yr Change:               +21.3%

Markets similar to Denver concerning annual gains include Miami (+22.2%), Las Vegas (+22.4%), San Francisco (+22%) and Charlotte (+20.9%).

As Case-Shiller is a look back the next few months could be interesting in Denver and beyond as in many markets as bidding wars seem to be taking a breather, inventory is expanding, days on market continues to tick upward and inflation is becoming more noticeable. Add to this potential scaling back of Fed stimulus i.e. bond buybacks and a potential rise in mortgage interest rates the goldilocks period for housing prices may have been at its pinnacle this past summer and will soon begin to stabilize and/or show signs of cooling off. 

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