Steel Markets

Case Shiller Home Prices Continue to March Higher

April 23, 2018

Low inventory continues to drive up home prices across the U.S. The S&P CoreLogic Case Shiller National Home Price NSA Index rose 6.3 percent in March, up from 6.1 percent in February.

“Year-over-year prices measured by the National index have increased continuously for the past 70 months, since May 2012. Over that time, the price increases averaged 6 percent per year,” said David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

The 20-City index posted a 6.8 percent annual gain, compared to 6.4 percent the previous month. None of the cities on the list experienced a monthly decline in March. Inventory for entry-level homes is tightest, making it difficult for first-time buyers to find homes at affordable prices.

West Coast cities experienced some of the highest annual gains. Seattle led the 20-city Index with a 12.7 percent annual gain, followed by Las Vegas at 11.6 percent and San Francisco at 10.1 percent.

Increasing employment levels are supporting home price increases, said Blitzer. “With expectations for continued economic growth and further employment gains, the current run of rising prices is likely to continue.”

About the Index:

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, published monthly, accurately track the price path of typical single-family homes located in each metropolitan area provided. Each index combines matched price pairs for thousands of individual houses from the available arms-length sales data. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index tracks the value of single-family housing within the United States. The index is a composite of single-family home price indices for the nine U.S. Census divisions and is calculated quarterly. The 10- and 20-city indices are value-weighted averages of the metro area indices.