The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index shows a 14.6% year-over-year price gain in April.

Home prices continued to gain steam in April, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, which showed a 2.1% increase from March and a 14.6% increase from a year earlier. 

Craig Lazzara, managing director and global head of index investment strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indexes, called April’s performance “truly extraordinary” in a press release. 

“The 14.6% gain in the National Composite is literally the highest reading in more than 30 years of S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller data,” he said. “Housing prices in all 20 cities rose; price gains in all 20 cities accelerated; price gains in all 20 cities were in the top quartile of historical performance.” 

In Boston, the index jumped 2.5% month over month and 16.2% year over year. The monthly increase was slightly down from the 2.6% rise recorded in March. 

The 10-city composite index rose 1.9% on a monthly basis and 14.4% on a yearly basis, while the 20-city composite rose 2.1% monthly and 14.9% annually.   

“We have previously suggested that the strength in the U.S. housing market is being driven in part by reaction to the COVID pandemic, as potential buyers move from urban apartments to suburban homes,” Lazzara said. “This demand surge may simply represent an acceleration of purchases that would have occurred anyway over the next several years. Alternatively, there may have been a secular change in locational preferences, leading to a permanent shift in the demand curve for housing.”