Home prices in the U.S. continue to rise, with August 2016 data recently released by the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices affirming the trend.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index reported a 5.3 percent annual gain in August, up from 5.0 percent the previous month. The 10-City Composite posted a 4.3 percent annual increase, up from 4.1 percent the previous month, and the 20-City Composite posted a 5.1 percent annual increase, up from 5.0 percent the previous month.
Portland, Seattle and Denver reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities over each of the last seven months. In August, Portland led the way with an 11.7 percent year-over-year price increase, followed by Seattle at 11.4 percent and Denver at 8.8 percent. Ten cities reported greater price increases in the year ending August 2016, versus the year ending July 2016.
Before seasonal adjustment, the National Index posted a month-over-month gain of 0.5 percent in August. Both the 10-City Composite and the 20-City Composite posted a 0.4percent increase in August. After seasonal adjustment, the National Index recorded a 0.6 percent month-over-month increase, and both the 10-City Composite and the 20-City Composite reported 0.2 percent month-over-month increases.
After seasonal adjustment, 14 cities saw prices rise, two cities were unchanged, and four cities experienced negative monthly prices changes.
“Supported by continued moderate economic growth, home prices extended recent gains,” says David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “All 20 cities saw prices higher than a year earlier, with 10 enjoying larger annual gains than last month. The seasonally adjusted month-over-month data showed that home prices in 14 cities were higher in August than in July. Other housing data including sales of existing single-family homes, measures of housing affordability, and permits for new construction also point to a reasonably healthy housing market.
“With the national home price index almost surpassing the peak set 10 years ago, one question is how the housing recovery compares with the stock market recovery,” Biltzer says. “Since the last recession ended in June 2009, the stock market as measured by the S&P 500 rose 136 percent to the end of August while home prices are up 23 percent; however, home prices did not reach bottom until February 2012, almost three years later. Using the 2012 date as the starting point, home prices are up 38 percent, compared to 59 percent for stocks. While the stock market recovery has been greater than the rebound in home prices, the value of Americans’ homes at about $22.3 trillion is slightly larger than the value of stocks and mutual funds at $21.2 trillion.”
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