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Your Money > Your Home
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Hot housing market: everywhere
Home prices increased across the board between the second quarter of 2002 and 2003 -- a new record.
August 27, 2003: 5:39 PM EDT
By Sarah Max, CNN/Money Staff Writer

BEND, Ore. (CNN/Money) – Put this one in the record books.

For the first time since the National Association of Realtors (NAR) began tracking metropolitan home prices, values in every single metro area increased during the second quarter of 2003 compared with the same period last year.

In fact, the report, released in mid-August, is what NAR chief economist David Lereah calls the "most exceptional" price survey the association has ever reported.

Prices in 40 of the 126 markets covered by the NAR saw double-digit gains in that 12-month period, another record. Nationally, median existing-home prices increased 7.4 percent to 168,900.

10 Hottest Housing Markets
Prices in every metro area tracked by the NAR increased for the second quarter. These cities saw the biggest gains.
Market Increase Median price 
Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif. 23.5% $212,600 
Providence, RI 23.2% $228,900 
Los Angeles, Calif. 20.6% $337,200 
Topeka, Kan. 20.2% $100,700 
Sacramento, Calif. 20.1% $243,600 
Knoxville, Tenn. 18.7% $141,300 
Nassau/Suffolk, NY 18.4% $363,700 
Atlantic City, NJ 18.3% $164,600 
Melbourne/Titusville/Palm Bay, Fla. 16.5% $130,100 
Daytona Beach, Fla. 16.4% $122,800 
Source: National Association of Realtors

Leading the way was Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., where median home prices rose 23.5 percent to $212,600. "Houses are selling in a matter of hours," said Gail Van Velzer, a realtor in San Bernardino county.

In Providence, R.I., prices increased 23.2 percent to $228,900, and in Los Angeles-Long Beach, Calif., they increased 23.2 percent to $337,200.

Topeka, Kan., and Knoxville, Tenn., were two unexpectedly hot markets. Median home prices jumped 20.2 percent in Topeka to a still-modest $100,700. In Knoxville, they jumped 18.7 percent to $141,000.

Our gallery of homes shows houses in these markets that are selling -- or have sold -- for about the median price in each area as well as homes for about $500,000 in each area.

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Low interest rates, no doubt, helped drive up prices. During the second quarter, the average effective interest rate for existing homes reached a record low 5.58 percent, according to the Federal Housing Finance Board.

Now that rates have been rising for five straight weeks, home prices are expected to soften, said Lawrence Yun, NAR senior economist. "Rising interest rates should moderate home price growth," he said.

In the week ending August 8, rates for the 30-year fixed loan were 6.34 percent, according to Freddie Mac.  Top of page




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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.