Home prices across the U.S. have been elevated since 2020, and this challenge persists as we now move into five years post-pandemic. While recent reports have found the rate of home price appreciation to be slowing overall across the country, many markets have seen sharp spikes as of late.
New research from Homes.com pinpointed some of the top year-over-year home price hikes from January 2024 to January 2025. The report analyzed data from U.S. cities with a population of 100,000 or more and where the local market saw at least 25 single-family home transactions in the past year.
Queens, NYC’s largest borough, led the nation in highest year-over-year home sale price hikes, with median prices growing 19% from $659,000 in January 2024 to $785,000 in January 2025.
The latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index supports this data, with the 20-city composite index reporting a 7.22% annual increase in New York City as of December 2024.
Following in second is Orange, California, which grew 20% from $1 million to $1.2 million. Rounding out the top three in Providence, Rhode Island, which grew 16% from $370,000 to $428,000. Both states have been previously reported on multiple occasions for having elevated price markets.
Other cities that Homes.com found had significant home sale price increases include 15% in Irvine, California; Miami, Florida and Hartford, Connecticut. In addition, Edison, New Jersey and West Palm Beach, Florida saw a 14% increase.
Detroit also saw a 13% increase in prices, which is something that has been noted as perplexing in the latest Beracha and Johnson Housing Market Ranking. The ranking found that Detroit is the most overpriced market in the U.S., with homes in the metro selling at a 37% premium above the area’s long-term pricing trend. This comes in contrast to a slowly rising population—only 1% growth in the last decade.
Ken H. Johnson, a real estate economist, said about Detroit that “There’s no reason to expect a crash because their incomes support the average price, even though it’s high. If there’s no pressure on the supply, I don’t see why prices should be going up.”
