YEAR-OVER-YEAR
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 6.2% annual gain in September, up from 5.9% in the previous month. The 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 5.7%, up from 5.2% the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted a 6.2% year-over-year gain, up from 5.8% the previous month.
Seattle, Las Vegas, and San Diego reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities. In September, Seattle led the way with a 12.9% year-over-year price increase, followed by Las Vegas with a 9.0% increase, and San Diego with an 8.2% increase. 13 cities reported greater price increases in the year ending September 2017 versus the year ending August 2017.
The charts on the following page compare year-over-year returns of different housing price ranges (tiers) for Seattle and Las Vegas.
MONTH-OVER-MONTH
Before seasonal adjustment, the National Index posted a month-over-month gain of 0.4% in September. The 10-City and 20-City Composites reported increases of 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively. After seasonal adjustment, the National Index recorded a 0.7% month-over-month increase in September. The 10-City and 20-City Composites posted 0.6% and 0.5% month-over-month increases, respectively. 15 of 20 cities reported increases in September before seasonal adjustment, while all 20 cities reported increases after seasonal adjustment.
ANALYSIS
"Home prices continued to rise across the country with the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Index rising at the fastest annual rate since June 2014," says David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "Home prices were higher in all 20 cities tracked by these indices compared to a year earlier; 16 cities saw annual price increases accelerate from last month. Strength continues to be concentrated in the west with Seattle, Las Vegas, San Diego and Portland seeing the largest gains. The smallest increases were in Atlanta, New York, Miami, Chicago and Washington. Eight cities have surpassed their pre-financial crisis peaks."
"Most economic indicators suggest that home prices can see further gains. Rental rates and home prices are climbing, the rent-to-buy ratio remains stable, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage is still under 4%, and at a 3.8-month supply, the inventory of homes for sale is still low. The overall economy is growing with the unemployment rate at 4.1%, inflation at 2% and wages rising at 3% or more. One dark cloud for housing is affordability – rising prices mean that some people will be squeezed out of the market."
SUPPORTING DATA
Table 1 below shows the housing boom/bust peaks and troughs for the three composites along with the current levels and percentage changes from the peaks and troughs.
|
2006 Peak |
2012 Trough |
Current | |||||
Index |
Level |
Date |
Level |
Date |
From
|
Level |
From
|
From
|
National |
184.62 |
Jul-06 |
134.00 |
Feb-12 |
-27.4% |
195.51 |
45.9% |
5.9% |
20-City |
206.52 |
Jul-06 |
134.07 |
Mar-12 |
-35.1% |
203.50 |
51.8% |
-1.5% |
10-City |
226.29 |
Jun-06 |
146.45 |
Mar-12 |
-35.3% |
217.27 |
48.4% |
-4.0% |