Mapping Home Price Changes

Tracking Net Migration By County

by Trends Staff

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York published a data visualization on home price changes from 2003 to 2023 for the entire United States. The visualization map animates month-by-month percent changes in home prices by county to illustrate changes in the United States housing market. Positive percent changes (shown in blue) indicate an increase in home price, while negative percent changes (shown in tan) indicate a decrease in home price. Switching over to the national prices tab allows users to see rates outside of New York State. Zooming in shows state and county details, and hovering over a county shows the specific percent change for the selected month.

This visualization is particularly equipped to demonstrate the severe impact of the housing crisis of 2008 on home prices in the United States. Beginning in late 2006, regions of the United States, particularly the Midwest and California, begin to experience small percent decreases in home price. These percent changes worsened over time as the United States went through the housing market crash and the following severe recession. The overall United States percent change from prior prices peaks in January of 2009: -17.9%. This national average did not return to positive digits until February of 2012, where a 0.5 percent increase in home prices occurred.

In Washington state, most counties indicated negative home price changes by December of 2008. The state followed national trends throughout the Great Recession, with negative changes in home prices continuing until mid-2012.

More recently, the United States experienced substantial increases in home prices due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and government stimulus. Home prices started to rise month-by-month, across the country reaching a high of 19.9% in April 2022. The home price surge began to slow shortly after. This trend continues in the most recent data report showing a 3.1 percent change in March 2023 over the same period the year prior.

Washington State home prices appear to be dropping at a higher rate than in the rest of the country. The illustration shows the majority of counties changing from blue to tan in late 2022 into early 2023. Benton and Franklin counties, however, have maintained positive home price percent changes at 1.3% and 3.9% in March 2023, respectively. Spokane County for comparison shows a negative 3.0 percent home price change for the same month.