Home prices in February rose at the fastest clip since November 2022, according to national home price data released Tuesday.
Prices nationwide rose 6.4% from the same month last year, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed.
“After last year’s decline, US home prices are at or near record highs,” Brian Luke, head of commodities, real and digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices, wrote in a press release.
“Our 10- and 20-City Composite indices are currently at all-time highs.”
A gauge that measures price changes in 20 of the nation’s largest cities rose 7.3%, up from a 6.6% gain in the previous month. Data from Bloomberg showed that analysts had expected this reading to show prices rising 6.7% from the previous year.
Prices rose 0.6% nationwide compared to the previous month, the first monthly increase since last October. Seasonally adjusted prices rose 0.4% in February.
“Since the previous peak in prices in 2022, this is the second time house prices have been pushed up in the face of economic uncertainty,” Luke added.
“The first drop followed the start of the Federal Reserve’s hike cycle. The second drop followed the peak in average mortgage rates last October. Enthusiasm for potential Fed cuts and lower mortgage rates appears to have supported buying behavior, driving the 10- and 20s. City Composites to new heights.”
On a monthly basis, Seattle, San Diego and San Francisco saw the biggest jump in home prices. Over the previous year, San Diego, Detroit and Chicago saw the largest price increases.
“The significant shortage of existing homes for sale fueled a robust 0.4% (month-on-month) rise in house prices in February, in line with our above-consensus call for house price growth to end 2024 at 5% (year-over-year),” Thomas Ryan, real estate economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday.
“Looking ahead, we believe that while still high mortgage rates are preventing a home price boom, we believe the combination of tight supply and increasing buyer demand will deliver a few more years of solid home price growth.”
