For four consecutive months through the end of July, all 20 cities tracked in the SP/Case-Shiller Home Price Index have showed monthly gains. But the Southwest continues to lead the overall housing recovery in terms of home price appreciation.
The S&P/Case-Shiller report discovered that Las Vegas home prices are up 27.5% on an annual basis. Also, Phoenix saw property values rise for the 22nd straight month. Compared to a year ago, home price appreciation in Phoenix is up 18.9%.
Meanwhile, in California, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego all saw values increase by 24.8%, 20.8% and 20.4%, respectively. However, all remain far below their peak values.
Over the last 12 months, prices rose 12.3% and 12.4% as measured by the 10- and 20-city composites. Additionally, the year-over-year returns show a brighter outlook with 13 cities posting improvement in July versus June values.
“Since April 2013, all 20 cities are up month to month; however, the monthly rates of price gains have declined,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “More cities are experiencing slow gains each month than the previous month, suggesting that the rate of increase may have peaked.”
As of July, average home prices across the U.S. are back to their spring 2004 levels, S&P/Case-Shiller said. Measured from their June/July 2006 peaks, the peak-to-current decline for both composites is approximately 21% to 22%, the report revealed.
On a monthly basis, the 10-city and 20-city composites were up 1.9% and 1.8%, respectively. Chicago had the biggest monthly home price gains with a 3.2% rise, followed by Las Vegas at 2.8%, and Detroit was up 2.7%. Conversely, Cleveland experienced the lowest price increase up 0.5% in July from the previous month.
Looking at the annual rates of change, 13 cities showed acceleration with San Francisco posting its highest year-over-year return of 24.8% since March 2001. The report said that Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis and Phoenix were the seven metropolitan statistical areas with lower annual growth rates.
“Following the increase in mortgage rates beginning last May, applications for mortgages have dropped, suggesting that rising interest rates are affecting housing,” Blitzer added. “The Fed’s announcement that
