U.S. home price growth slows in April - 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, rose 2.5 percent y-o-y in April, following a revised 2.6 percent y-o-y increase in March (originally a climb of 2.7 percent m-o-). That was the smallest annual advance in house prices since August 2012.

Economists had expected an advance of 2.6 percent y-o-y.

Las Vegas (+7.1 percent y-o-y), Phoenix (+6.0 percent y-o-y) and Tampa (+5.6 percent y-o-y) recorded the highest y-o-y gains in April.

Meanwhile, the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which measures all nine U.S. census divisions, was up 3.5 percent y-o-y in April, down from 3.7 percent y-o-y in the previous month.

“Home price gains continued in a trend of broad-based moderation,” says Philip Murphy, Managing Director and Global Head of Index Governance at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Year-over-year price gains remain positive in most cities, though at diminishing rates of change.”

“The national average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose from below 4% in late 2017 to briefly reaching almost 5% by the latter part of 2018. Peak YOY changes in the 20-City Composite coincided with the upward turn in mortgage rates during the first quarter of 2018. In 2019, mortgage rates reversed course again and the 30-year fixed mortgage rate is again under 4%, yet the YOY house price moderation that coincided with the 2018 uptick in rates has not changed course.”