Home prices experienced widespread growth across the United States as buyer demand remained strong in June, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, released Tuesday.
National home prices rose by 4.3 percent year over year in June, according to the data, a gain that remained constant from the previous month. The 10-City Composite saw 2.8 percent annual growth, down from 3 percent the previous month. The 20-City Composite experienced 3.5 percent annual growth, down from 3.6 percent the previous month.
Although growth decelerated slightly in the 10- and 20-City Composites, Craig Lazzara, managing director and global head of index investment strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said it’s still too early to tell whether or not that may become an emerging trend.
“More data will be required to understand whether the market resumes its previous path of accelerating prices, continues to decelerate, or remains stable,” Lazzara said. “That said, it’s important to bear in mind that deceleration is quite different from an environment in which prices actually fall.”
Home price gains were strongest in the Southeast and West, with Phoenix experiencing the greatest price gains, as it has for several months.
“Phoenix retains the top spot for the 13th consecutive month, with a gain of 9.0 percent for June,” Lazzara said. “Home prices in Seattle rose by 6.5 percent, followed by Tampa at 5.9 percent and Charlotte at 5.7 percent. As has been the case for the last several months, prices were particularly strong in the Southeast and West, and comparatively weak in the Midwest and (especially) Northeast.”
The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index is a composite of single-family home price indices that is calculated every month. The indices for the nine U.S. Census divisions are calculated using estimates of the aggregate value of single-family housing stock for the time period in question.
