Steel Markets

Home Prices Rise at a Slower Rate in May

July 28, 2020

Home prices grew at a little slower rate in May, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index. The National Home Price NSA Index posted an annual gain of 4.5 percent in May, down slightly from 4.6 percent in April. Data from the Detroit metro is unavailable for March, April and May due to COVID-19 lockdown of county offices.

The 20-city composite posted a 3.7 percent annual gain, slipping from 3.9 percent in April. Phoenix reported the year-over-year gain at 9.0 percent, followed by Seattle at 5.8 percent and a 6.0 percent increase in Tampa. The 10-City index posted 3.1 percent compared to 3.3 percent for the prior month.

On a month-over-month basis, the National Index rose 0.7 percent while the 10- and 20-city composites increased 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

“May’s housing price data were stable,” says Craig Lazzara, managing director and global head of index investment strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “In contrast with the past eight months, May’s gains were less than April’s. Although prices increased in May, in other words, they did so at a decelerating rate. We observed an analogous development at the city level; prices increased in all 19 cities for which we have data but accelerated in only 3 of them (in contrast with 12 cities last month and 18 the month before that).

“More data will obviously be required in order to know whether May’s report represents a reversal of the previous path of accelerating prices or merely a slight deviation from an otherwise intact trend. Even if prices continue to decelerate, that is quite different from an environment in which prices actually decline,” he added.