The numbers show that home prices in the 20 largest U.S. cities hit another record high in July. However, the rate of price increases has slowed down a lot as buyers are more concerned about rising costs and mortgage rates.
In July, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city house-price measure went up 0.3% from the month before.
In the 20 largest U.S. cities, home prices went up 5.9% in the year ended in July.
That’s less growth than the previous month, when it rose by 6.5%. Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal polled economists and found that most thought the 20-city index would go up by 6%.
Also, the 20-city measure hasn’t gone up at this rate since November 2023.
The national index, which is a more general measure of home prices, went up 0.2% in July and is up 5% over the past year. All of the numbers have been changed to account for the seasons.
We are at a record high for both the 20-city index and the national index.
Important facts: In July, home prices went up the most year over year in New York. There was an 8.8% rise in prices.
With only a 0.8% increase, home prices in Portland grew the least.
| Cities | Change from last year |
| Atlanta | 4.5% |
| Boston | 6.5% |
| Charlotte | 5.8% |
| Chicago | 6.7% |
| Cleveland | 7% |
| Dallas | 1.9% |
| Denver | 1.3% |
| Detroit | 6.7% |
| Las Vegas | 8.2% |
| Los Angeles | 7.2% |
| Miami | 6.5% |
| Minneapolis | 2% |
| New York | 8.8% |
| Phoenix | 2.9% |
| Portland | 0.8% |
| San Diego | 7.2% |
| San Francisco | 3.4% |
| Seattle | 6% |
| Tampa | 2.2% |
| Washington | 5.5% |
| Composite-20 | 5.9% |
In a different report, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said that home prices went up 0.1% in July compared to the previous month and 4.5% over the past year.
The service said, “For the third month in a row, U.S. house prices showed little change.” “Lowering mortgage rates over time and stable home prices may make housing more affordable.”
In July, the average price of a previously owned home was $421,400, and the average price of a brand-new home was $436,700.
On the bright side, this study shows that even though home prices are still rising to record highs, the rate of growth has slowed down a lot in recent months.
But it’s not clear if prices will go down even more. Since August, mortgage rates have gone down a lot, which makes it easier for buyers to buy things. That could get more people to buy, which would make the market more competitive and drive up prices even more.
S&P said in a statement, “Taking into account the seasonality of home purchases, we have seen 14 consecutive record highs in our National Index.” Luke is the head of commodities, real estate, and digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
“Housing is going in the same direction as the S&P 500 SPX 0.11%, which has hit 39 record highs and the S&P GSCI Gold TR SPGSGC 0.90%, which has hit 35 record highs,” he said.
Luke said, “the growth has come at a cost. All but two markets slowed down last month, eight markets saw monthly declines, and 2024 saw the slowest annual growth in the country as a whole.”
What do they mean? Ralph McLaughlin, a senior economist at Realtor.com, said in a statement, “This month’s index includes home sales from May, June, and July, a time when home sales activity, time on market, and price cuts all started to swing towards a buyer’s market.”
“Since mortgage rates hit their highest point in May, next month’s report will start to fully reflect this change in the housing market that began in June,” he said. RealEstate.com is run by Move Inc., a subsidiary of News Corp., and MarketWatch is a part of Dow Jones, which is also a division of News Corp.
Looking back, Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS, said in a release, “throughout 2024, home prices have defied expectations.”
“Even though mortgage rates kept going up in the first half of the year, eager buyers pushed up home prices because there weren’t many homes for sale,” she said. “But now that mortgage rates are going down and buyers seem to be jumping back into the market, where will home prices go this fall?”
According to Sturtevant, lower rates this fall might lead to slower price growth for homes as more people decide to sell and the number of homes for sale keeps going up. “Because of the high cost of living, many buyers in the market are less able to offer the prices above what homes are listed for.”
