The American dream of homeownership continues to get more expensive. Buyers are paying more for single-family existing houses, according to the latest quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors, with home sales prices climbing in about 70% or 152 of 221 metro areas in this year's first quarter. About one in 14 markets or 7% posted double-digit annual price appreciation of 18% in the prior quarter.

But because of previously higher prices, the median single-family existing-home price now declined 0.2% to $371,200, from a year ago. The higher interest rates have made the monthly mortgage payment go up to $1,859, which represents a 33.1% increase from a year ago, when buyers put down 20% of the selling price

With 46% of the rising prices, the South experienced the top jump in the first quarter. Price appreciation from year-over-year also rose 1.4%. Prices also rose in the Midwest by 2.9%. They went down in the Northeast and West, however, with declines of 0.1% and 5.3%, respectively. Lawrence Yun, NAR's Chief Economist, attributes these results to the rising mortgage rates. "Generally speaking, home prices are lower in expensive markets and higher in affordable markets, implying greater mortgage rate sensitivity for high-priced homes," he said.