The S&P Dow Jones Indices recently released the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, showing continued growth in home prices over the last 12 months. The report showed that U.S. home prices have improved 5 percent year-over-year in April.
Although national growth didn’t quite reach March’s 5.1 percent gain, the steady year-over-year increase is supported by six consecutive months of a growth rate of 5 percent or more.
Graph courtesy of S&P/ Dow Jones
The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showed Washington D.C.’s average home price to be $213,520 in April. This is 1.8 percent growth over March following 0.7 percent growth from the month before. Since April 2015, average home prices have climbed 1.9 percent in D.C., and since April 2006, the average home price has decreased 1.57 percent.
The report also includes the price differences as it relates to seasonally adjusted (SA) and non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) data. The NSA change since March was 1.8 percent in D.C., while the SA level changed only 0.2 percent.
“The home price increases reflect the low unemployment rate, low mortgage interest rates, and consumers’ generally positive outlook,” said David M. Blitzer, managing director of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “One result is that an increasing number of cities have surpassed the high prices seen before the Great Recession. Currently, seven cities — Denver, Dallas, Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, Seattle, Charlotte and Boston — are setting new highs.”
