According to a key indicator, home prices in 20 cities rose in February by an average of 11.9% from the same time last year.
It was the biggest gain for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index since March 2014. The broader Case-Shiller national home price index rose 12% — the biggest gain since February 2006.
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All this comes as demand for housing has surged during the pandemic. Americans fortunate enough to work from home, have sought more space or a different location. Low mortgage rates are also encouraging buyers: The average 30-year fixed, home loan rate fell last week below 3% for the first time in two months.
But just how accurate are those online estimates you get from sites like Zillow, Redfin or Realtor.com?
Krishna Rao, vice president of analytics at Zillow, told CNN that in fast-moving markets like we’re in right now, it’s harder to predict what a home will sell for and that hundreds of factors are involved in the calculations of the estimates.
Some of those factors include local real estate databases, sale records over time, property records, tax records and other sources, CNN reports.
What’s tricky is that your home price might be much higher on one site than it is on another. So which one is the most accurate?
Dave Masters, director of product management at Realtor.com, told CNN the site offers three different estimates from data companies it partners with.
“One reason why we think the three numbers are more insightful, is that it shows home sellers the picture is varied,” Masters told CNN. “There are some markets where the difference isn’t too drastic, in other cases, they can be wildly different.”
Zillow and Redfin offer some transparency by publishing regular accuracy reports, according to CNN.
For more from CNN’s reporting, including what online estimates can’t tell you and a calculator to help you determine how much house you can afford, click here.
The Commerce Department reported last week that sales of new homes shot up nearly 21% in March to the highest level since 2006, bouncing back from a big drop in February when severe winter weather paralyzed much of the country. Sales of existing homes, however, fell in March for the second straight month, the National Association of Realtors reported last week, partly because so few houses are on the market.
The S&P 20-city index has climbed 83.5% since hitting bottom in March 2012 after the collapse of the mid-2000s housing bubble and the 2007-2009 Great Recession.
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