U.S. Housing Market: Home Prices Reach Record High in July
US home prices reached a new record high in July, though the rate of price growth slowed overall.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, which tracks home prices across all nine U.S. census divisions, saw a 5.0% increase in July compared to a 5.5% annual rise in the previous month.
The 10-City Composite recorded a year-over-year growth of 6.8%, down from 7.4% in the prior month. Similarly, the 20-City Composite posted a 5.9% annual gain, a decrease from the 6.5% increase observed in June.
Home prices have softened as mortgage rates decline and housing supply increases, although inventory remains limited in certain areas. In July, the number of homes actively listed for sale rose by 36.6% compared to the previous year, marking the ninth consecutive month of growth, according to a report from Realtor.com. Despite this, most metro areas still have lower inventory levels compared to pre-pandemic years.
“Taking into account the seasonal trends of home purchases, we’ve observed 14 consecutive record highs in our National Index,” said Brian Luke, head of commodities, real and digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a release on September 24. “This growth, however, has come at a cost, with all but two markets slowing down last month, eight markets experiencing monthly declines, and the slowest national annual growth in 2024.”
The U.S. National Index increased by 0.2% in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, mirroring the growth seen in June. The 20-City Composite and 10-City Composite both showed a monthly rise of 0.3%.
Among the 20 cities, New York once again led with the highest annual growth, posting an 8.8% increase in July. Las Vegas and Los Angeles followed closely, with annual gains of 8.2% and 7.2%, respectively.
According to Luke, New York’s growth was largely driven by its low-tier index, which tracks home values up to $533,000 and saw a 10.8% annual increase.
