Steel Markets

Case-Shiller Index: Home Prices Up Over 6%

May 29, 2018

Home prices are continuing to rise, according to the latest S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller Index. The U.S. National Home Price NSA Index gained 6.45 percent in March.

The 20-City composite was up 6.8 percent year-over-year with no change from the previous month. Seattle, Las Vegas, and San Francisco reported the highest year-over-year gains, at 23.0 percent, 12.4 percent and 11.3 percent, respectively.

CS chart

“Any doubts that real, or inflation-adjusted, home prices are climbing rapidly are eliminated by considering Chicago; the city reported the lowest 12-month gain among all cities in the index of 2.8 percent, almost a percentage point ahead of the inflation rate,” said David Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Added Blitzer, “Looking across various national statistics on sales of new or existing homes, permits for new construction, and financing terms, two figures that stand out are rapidly rising home prices and low inventories of existing homes for sale. Months-supply, which combines inventory levels and sales, is currently at 3.8 months, lower than the levels of the 1990s before the housing boom and bust. Until inventories increase faster than sales, or the economy slows significantly, home prices are likely to continue rising.

“Compared to the price gains of the last boom in the early 2000s, things are calmer today. Gains in the National Index peaked at 14.5 percent in September 2005, more quickly than Seattle is rising now.”