Home prices in February surged at the fastest pace since November 2022, with a nationwide increase of 6.4% over the same month last year, according to the latest data from the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index.
Brian Luke, head of commodities, real & digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices, noted that U.S. home prices are now at or near all-time highs, with the 10- and 20-City Composite indices reaching record levels.
The gauge measuring price changes in 20 of the nation’s largest cities showed a 7.3% increase, surpassing analysts’ expectations of a 6.7% rise over the prior year. This marks the first monthly increase since October, with prices rising 0.6% nationally and 0.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis in February.
Seattle, San Diego, and San Francisco experienced the largest monthly price jumps, while San Diego, Detroit, and Chicago saw the biggest price increases over the past year.
Thomas Ryan, property economist at Capital Economics, predicts that the strong demand and limited supply of existing homes for sale will continue to drive solid house price growth, with expectations that house price growth will end 2024 at 5% year-over-year.
Despite the high mortgage rates, experts believe that the combination of tight supply and increasing buyer demand will support further price increases in the coming years.