Commentary Home prices across the Western U.S. continue to skyrocket. The median price for a single-family home in the region reached $502,300 in May, according the National Association of Realtors. It represents an increase of $81,000—or 19.2 percent—from the 2019 median price. Unsurprisingly, home prices in the West are up 17.7 percent from the year-ago levels of May 2020, when the U.S. economy was in its third month of pandemic-induced, government-mandated lockdowns. Many Americans were scared not only about job security, but also where they were going to find essential household items. However, the median transaction price for a single-family home in the western half of the U.S. (including Hawaii and Alaska) is now 19.2 percent higher than it was in 2019, when the U.S. economy was very strong and there was still little economic concern about the following year’s national elections. Data provided by economics professors at Chapman University …