Steel Markets

Case-Shiller: Home Price Growth Slows for the 12th Month

May 28, 2019

The rate of growth in U.S. home prices continues to slow. The March S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index gained 3.7 percent year-over-year in March, down from 3.9 percent in February and the lowest annual gain since September 2012. The index has been on a 12-month downward trajectory, falling from a 6.5 percent annual gain in March 2018.

The 20-City Composite posted a 2.7 percent annual gain, down from 3.0 percent in the previous month. Gains were highest in Las Vegas at 8.2 percent, Phoenix at 6.1 percent and Tampa at 5.3 percent.

“Home price gains continue to slow,” says David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The patterns seen in the last year or more continue; year-over-year price gains in most cities are consistently shrinking. Double-digit annual gains have vanished.”

Added Blitzer, “Given the broader economic picture, housing should be doing better. Mortgage rates are at 4 percent for a 30-year fixed rate loan, unemployment is close to a 50-year low, low inflation and moderate increases in real incomes would be expected to support a strong housing market. Measures of household debt service do not reveal any problems and consumer sentiment surveys are upbeat. The difficulty facing housing may be too-high price increases.”