YEAR-OVER-YEAR
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 6.3% annual gain in February, up from 6.1% in the previous month. The 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 6.5%, up from 6.0% in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted a 6.8% year-over-year gain, up from 6.4% in the previous month.
Seattle, Las Vegas, and San Francisco continue to report the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities. In February, Seattle led the way with a 12.7% year-over-year price increase, followed by Las Vegas with an 11.6% increase and San Francisco with a 10.1% increase. Thirteen of the 20 cities reported greater price increases in the year ending February 2018 versus the year ending January 2018.
MONTH-OVER-MONTH
Before seasonal adjustment, the National Index posted a month-over-month gain of 0.4% in February. The 10-City and 20-City Composites both reported increases of 0.7%. After seasonal adjustment, the National Index recorded a 0.5% month-over-month increase in February. The 10-City and 20-City Composites both posted 0.8% month-over-month increases. All 20 cities reported increases in February before and after seasonal adjustment.
ANALYSIS
"Home prices continue to rise across the country," says David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Index is up 6.3% in the 12 months through February 2018. Year-over-year prices measured by the National index have increased continuously for the past 70 months, since May 2012. Over that time, the price increases averaged 6% per year. This run, which is still ongoing, compares to the previous long run from January 1992 to February 2007, 182 months, when prices averaged 6.1% annually. With expectations for continued economic growth and further employment gains, the current run of rising prices is likely to continue.
"Increasing employment supports rising home prices both nationally and locally. Among the 20 cities covered by the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, Seattle enjoyed both the largest gain in employment and in home prices over the 12 months ended in February 2018. At the other end of the scale, Chicago was ranked 19th in both home price and employment gains; Cleveland ranked 18th in home prices and 20th in employment increases. In San Francisco and Los Angeles, home price gains ranked much higher than would be expected from their employment increases, indicating that California home prices continue to rise faster than might be expected. In contrast, Miami home prices experienced some of the smaller increases despite better than average employment gains."
SUPPORTING DATA
Table 1 below shows the housing boom/bust peaks and troughs for the three composites along with the current levels and percentage changes from the peaks and troughs.
|
2006 Peak |
2012 Trough |
Current | |||||
Index |
Level |
Date |
Level |
Date |
From Peak (%) |
Level |
From Trough (%) |
From Peak (%) |
National |
184.62 |
Jul-06 |
133.99 |
Feb-12 |
-27.4% |
197.01 |
47.0% |
6.7% |
20-City |
206.52 |
Jul-06 |
134.07 |
Mar-12 |
-35.1% |
206.67 |
54.2% |
0.1% |
10-City |
226.29 |
Jun-06 |
146.45 |
Mar-12 |
-35.3% |
220.71 |
50.7% |
-2.5% |