US Major City Home Price Growth Slumps To Weakest In 7 Years

For the 17th month in a row – the longest streak since 2008 – US home price growth (in 20 major cities) has been unable to re-accelerate.

S&P CoreLogic’s (Case-Shiller) 20-City Composite home price index rose 2.03% YoY in August and flat to a downward-revised July print…

Source: Bloomberg

This is the weakest growth since August 2012, and biggest MoM drop since March 2012…

Source: Bloomberg

All 20 cities in the index, with the exception of San Francisco, showed year-over-year gains. Prices there fell 0.1% from August 2018.

Prices in 17 cities rose from the prior month on a seasonally adjusted basis. In New York, home prices fell 0.4% from July, while in Las Vegas, they dropped 0.1%. In Detroit, prices were unchanged month over month.

As Bloomberg notes, although mortgage rates are hovering near a three-year low, tepid wage gains are limiting buyer enthusiasm in markets such as Las Vegas and New York. Meanwhile a shortage of affordable inventory is keeping prices elevated.