Home prices rose in nearly 100% of metro areas over the past year; mortgages up 50%

Home prices jumped in nearly 100% of U.S. metro areas year-over-year last quarter, a single of sustained hot conditions in the real estate market even as rising interest rates have dampened activity over the past several months. 

Single-family existing-home sales prices "grew in nearly every measured metro area – 181 of 185 – in the third quarter," the National Association of Realtors said in a Thursday press release.  

"Compared to a year ago, the national median single-family existing-home price rose 8.6% to $398,500," the organization said. 

The NAR said that "the national median single-family existing-home price climbed 8.6% from a year ago to $398,500," while "year-over-year price appreciation decelerated when compared to the previous quarter's 14.2%."

The "monthly mortgage payment on a typical existing single-family home with a 20% down payment," the group added, "was $1,840 – up 50% year-over-year."

"The median income needed to buy a typical home has risen to $88,300," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in the release; that figure, he said, is "almost $40,000 more than it was prior to the start of the pandemic, back in 2019."

Real estate activity has slowed considerably throughout the second half of 2022 due to aggressive Federal Reserve interest rate hikes in an effort to tamp down sky-high inflation. 

Analysts have warned that raising rates too aggressively risks generating an economic recession. Inflation, meanwhile, was still up more than 7% last month.