An earlier version of this report misidentified San Diego as having the second-biggest year-over-year price increase in August. Las Vegas had the second-biggest increase behind Seattle. The post has been corrected.
- Home prices rose again 6.1% annually for the 15th consecutive month of increasing year-over-year gains as meager housing supply continues to increase competition among homebuyers and erode affordability.
- While the havoc of Hurricane Harvey slowed home sales in August it did little to weigh on home price appreciation.
- Seattle continues to frustrate homebuyers with double digit year-over-year price growth, but August’s 13.2% is slight decrease from July’s annual growth hinting at a potential slowing of price gains.
U.S. home prices climbed again in August, posting a 6.1% year-over-year increase, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index released today. Another sharp annual gain reflects the tough reality for homebuyers. Favorable mortgage rates through August ensured healthy demand for homes, but many continued to be held back by tight supply and high prices especially at the lower end of the market. Hurricane Harvey did little to impact home price growth despite dragging home sales in August. Look for possible lingering effects of Harvey as well as Irma’s impact to bear on home price appreciation in September’s index.
Regionally, the index shows that the Great Recession is well behind the 20 cities tracked by the Case Shiller Index as these markets continue to experience robust price growth. Seattle, however, continues to frustrate homebuyers with the 19th consecutive month of year-over-year double digit price growth. However, there are early signs that prices may have peaked with annual price growth in Seattle at its lowest since April. Nine of the 20 other markets saw prices increase with Las Vegas behind Seattle with the second highest annual price gains at 7.8%.
