U.S. home price growth accelerates more than forecast in December - S&P Dow Jones Indices

S&P reported on Tuesday its Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which tracks home prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas, jumped 10.1 percent y-o-y in December, following a revised 9.2 percent y-o-y surge in November (originally a 9.1 percent y-o-y climb). This was the biggest annual gain in house prices since April 2014.

Economists had expected a climb of 9.9 percent y-o-y.

Phoenix (+14.4 percent y-o-y), Seattle (+13.6 percent y-o-y) and San Diego (+13.0 percent y-o-y) recorded the highest y-o-y advances among the 19 cities (excluding Detroit) in December. Eighteen of the 19 cities reported greater price gains in the year ending December versus the year ending November.

Meanwhile, the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which measures all nine U.S. census divisions, surged 10.4 percent y-o-y in December, following a 9.5 percent y-o-y jump in the previous month.

“The trend of accelerating prices that began in June 2020 has now reached its seventh month,” noted Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director and Global Head of Index Investment Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “As COVID-related restrictions began to grip the economy in early 2020, their effect on housing prices was unclear. Price growth decelerated in May and June, and then began a steady climb upward, and December’s report continues that acceleration in an emphatic manner. 2020’s 10.4% gain marks the best performance of housing prices in a calendar year since 2013. From the perspective of more than 30 years of S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller data, December’s year-over-year change ranks within the top decile of all reports.”