Case Shiller Housing Price Index Snaps After Seven Months of Declines
Miami, Tampa, and Atlanta reported the highest year-over-year gains.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Composite index for home prices rose 0.2% in February following seven consecutive months of decline.
The Index for February is a three-month average of December, January, and February closing prices. December closing prices include contracts signed in October, so there is a significant lag to this data.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices declined in 11 of 20 Case-Shiller cities on a month-to-month basis.
Miami, Tampa, and Atlanta again reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities in February. Miami led the way for the seventh consecutive month with a 10.8% year-over-year price increase, followed by Tampa in second with a 7.7% increase, and Atlanta in third with a 6.6% increase.
All 20 cities reported lower prices in the year ending February 2023 versus the year ending January 2023.
The largest monthly declines seasonally adjusted were in Seattle (-1.5%), Las Vegas (-0.9%), and Portland (-0.4%).
Seasonally adjusted, San Francisco has fallen 13.5% from the peak in May 2022 and Seattle is down 12.8% from the peak. All 20 cities have seen price declines from the recent peak.
“Home price trends moderated in February 2023,” says Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P DJI, said in a prepared statement, noting that the results pre-date the disruptions in the commercial banking industry which began in early March.
He also noted that although forecasts are mixed about what the Federal Reserve will do, it seems focused on its inflation-reduction targets, which suggests that interest rates may remain elevated, at least in the near term.
“Mortgage financing and the prospect of economic weakness are therefore likely to remain a headwind for housing prices for at least the next several months.”