Data released on Monday showed housing prices climbed nationwide by 20.6% in March on an annualized basis, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index.
While the Case-Shiller Index broadly covers the entire U.S. housing market, its narrower 20-City index also tracked a record 21.2% year-over-year growth in housing costs over the same period.
Meanwhile, Additional data released Monday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency demonstrated a roughly equivalent 18.7% spike in home prices nationwide from this March until last.
This record growth in housing prices came even as mortgage rates climbed by more than a percentage point between January and March, rising from 3.29% to 4.67%.
Case-Shiller found Tampa, Phoenix, and Miami lead the nation in real estate appreciation, with Tampa dethroning Phoenix from the top spot for the first time in three years. Home prices grew by 34.8% in the Cigar City, beating out Phoenix's 32.4%, while growing by 32% in Miami.
Meanwhile, Washington DC, Case-Shiller's lowest-ranked metro, still saw the cost of square footage climb by a not-to-modest 12.9% year over year.
Meanwhile, month-to-month home prices climbed 2.6% between February and March, indicating strong demand despite the immediate pressures of rising mortgage rates.
"Those of us who have been anticipating a deceleration in the growth rate of US home prices will have to wait at least a month longer," wrote Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director at S&P DJI.
"Mortgages are becoming more expensive as the Federal Reserve has begun to ratchet up interest rates, suggesting that the macroeconomic environment may not support extraordinary home price growth for much longer."
"Although one can safely predict that price gains will begin to decelerate, the timing of the deceleration is a more difficult call," Lazzara added,
Mortgage costs have nearly doubled, rising from 2.75% last fall to 5.25% today. Meanwhile, a host of macroeconomic factors, from inflation to limited housing supply, continue to push up prices in some markets past the point of affordability.
Monday's data is backdated to March, potentially limiting its relevance to today's housing market Matthew Pointon, a senior property economist at Capital Economics, pointed out in a Tuesday report to clients.
"Back then, home demand was still strong," he wrote.
"Demand is waning - evident in weakening purchase applications and home sales - in response to sharply higher mortgage rates, which should provide some relief on prices," Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, told MarketWatch.
"For now, prices are showing little sign of abating."