The latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller national home price index, released on Tuesday, reveals a huge 6.4% year-over-year increase in home prices for February. This marks a continued upward trend, following a 6% year-over-year jump in January, which was the fastest annual growth since 2022.
According to the index, the 10-city composite saw an 8% increase, up from 7.4% in the previous month, while the 20-city composite showed a 7.3% year-over-year increase, up from 6.6% during the last month.
San Diego led the pack among the 20 cities, with an impressive 11.4% year-over-year increase in home prices, followed closely by Chicago and Detroit, which saw increases of 8.9%. On the other end of the spectrum, Portland experienced the smallest increase, with a 2.2% rise in home prices.
US Home Price Insights (Credits: CoreLogic)
As noted by Brian Luke, head of commodities, real & digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices, “Following last year’s decline, U.S. home prices are at or near all-time highs.” In fact, the 10 and 20-city composite indices have reached all-time highs, with all cities reporting an increase in annual home prices for the third month in a row.
Some known cities, including San Diego, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C., have seen home prices reach all-time highs. Interestingly, these Southern California cities have outperformed their neighbors to the north, such as San Francisco, which has experienced a 12% drop in home prices since its peak in 2022.
US new home sales (Credits: CBS News)
Meanwhile, markets in Phoenix and Las Vegas have seen drops of 6% and 4.5%, respectively. Luke attributes the Northeast’s strong performance over the past year and a half to companies requiring workers to return to the office.
“As remote work benefited smaller (and sunnier markets) in the first part of the decade, return to office may be contributing to outperformance in larger metropolitan markets in the Northeast,” he explained.
