Housing Prices Rising Faster Than Any Point Since 2005

"In just one year, home prices across the country rose by 15.4 percent in May — the fourth straight month of double-digit growth and an extraordinarily high number unseen since November 2005," reports Veronika Bondarenko via recently released data from CoreLogic.

While the year-over-year increase was substantial—so too was the comparison between May and the previous month of April. Housing prices roses 2.3 percent in that relatively brief window of time.

"While great for homeowners, such high growth is also stalling the market since many potential sellers are holding off on placing their homes on the market. Low mortgage rates, lack of inventory and steep competition from bidders is keeping many first-time buyers on the sidelines," explains Bondarenko.

Among the data included in the CoreLogic report are the, perhaps surprising, cities with the fastest growing housing prices in the nation over the past year: Twin Falls and Coeur d’Alene, both in Idaho. "When looking by state, Idaho, Arizona and Utah saw the highest growth at 30.3, 23.4 and 20.4 percent," reports Bondarenko.