According to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case Shiller Home Price Index, prices increased +3.2% in July 2019. This +3.2% increase in home prices nationally ended a 15-month streak of decreasing y/y price gains that began in early 2018.
Home prices on the West Coast were outliers to this price thaw and continued to cool. Seattle home prices continued to decrease for the third month in a row and home prices in San Francisco saw a close to zero increase.
Though home prices increased nationally in July 2019, CoreLogic indicated that the increase reflected the lowest home price growth since 2012.
The average home price in CoreLogic’s 10-City Index saw an increase of +1.6% in July 2019, down from an increase of +1.9% in June 2019. In CoreLogic’s 20-City Index, home price gains continued an 18-month cool-down with an increase of +2% y/y in July, less than June 2019’s +2.2% y/y increase.
The fastest growing housing markets in CoreLogic’s 20-City Index were Phoenix and Las Vegas with +5.8% and +4.7% increases respectively. The slowest price growth in July 2019 occurred in the West with Seattle’s home prices dropping -0.6%, San Francisco’s home prices increasing only +0.2% and Los Angeles’s price increasing just 1.1%.
June 2019 was the first sign of housing market stabilization in 18 months and July 2019 continued that trend. Again the West or Pacific markets were the outliers by having 50% of CoreLogic’s 10-City Index be the slowest in terms of home price growth. The winners were buyers who could leverage slow home price growth with low mortgage rates to achieve some sort of affordability.
On the other hand, markets in the South and Midwest had 50% of the fastest home price growth in CoreLogic’s 10-City Index. Certainly sellers in these second-tier markets where prices have struggled to rise above inflation welcomed this price growth.
Thanks to CoreLogic’s Ralph McLaughlin for source data.
Also read: St. Louis is #1 Flipping Market in Q2 2019, July 2019 Existing Home Sales Increase as Mortgage Rates Decrease, Global Lux Home Price Growth Dampened in Q2 2019
