Steel Markets

Home Prices Continue to Rise in S&P/Case-Shiller Index

May 31, 2016

The latest release of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices shows home prices continue to rise across the U.S. On a year-over-year basis, the U.S. National Home Price Index in March gained 5.2 percent while the 10- and 20-City Composites remained unchanged at 4.7 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively.

On a month-over-month seasonally adjusted basis the National Index rose 0.1 percent in March, the 10-City Composite rose 0.8 percent and the 20-City Composite 0.9 percent.

“Home prices are continuing to rise at a 5% annual rate, a pace that has held since the start of 2015,” said David M. Blitzer, Managing Director & Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The economy is supporting the price increases with improving labor markets, falling unemployment rates and extremely low mortgage rates.”

A limited supply of homes available continues to be a factor in rising home prices. Currently the number of homes on the market is less than 2 percent of the number of households in the U.S–the lowest percentage seen since the mid-1980s.

Price gains varied across the nation. Said Blitzer, “Pacific Northwest and the west continue to be the strongest regions. Seattle, Portland, Oregon and Denver had the largest year-over-year price increases. These cities also saw some of the largest declines in unemployment rates among the 20 cities included in the S&P/Case-Shiller Indices. The northeast and upper mid-west regions were at the other end of the ranking. The four cities with the smallest year-over-year prices gains were Washington DC, Chicago, New York, and Cleveland. The unemployment rates in Chicago and Cleveland rose from March 2015 to March 2016.”