- Home price growth slowed earlier than expected during the summer.
- A number of markets are still seeing above-average appreciation on a year-over-year basis.
- It appears the last markets to recover -- ones in the Midwest, along with Las Vegas and Southern California's Inland Empire -- have done so.
Spanning June to July, U.S. home prices rose by only 0.2 percent, breaking a five-month streak where 1.1 to 1.3 percent gains occurred.
July’s month-over-month increase falls short of what is typically expected for the end of the summer homebuying season.
“It marks one of the weakest June-to-July seasonal growths since the housing market upturn in the past 3 1/2 years,” according to FNC Residential, which just released its monthly home price index.
The fact that home prices are already showing signs of retreat is a reminder there remains a great deal of uncertainty in the market, FNC added.
Markets that saw the largest month-to-month drop in home prices included:
- Cincinnati (-2.4 percent)
- Tampa (-2.4 percent)
- San Francisco (-2.2 percent)
- Columbus, Ohio (-2.2 percent)
- San Diego (-1.7 percent)
- San Antonio (-1.1 percent)
San Francisco image via Shutterstock.
Month-over-month home prices dropped by 0.1 to 0.9 percent in a number of other markets:
- Seattle
- Atlanta
- Portland
- Las Vegas
- New York
- Charlotte
- Baltimore
- Sacramento
Chicago and Riverside, California, saw minimal 0.1 percent growth.
The top-performing markets in July, in terms of home price appreciation, were St. Louis (2.6 percent increase), Cleveland (1.9 percent) and Detroit (1.6 percent).
Linda Parton / Shutterstock.com
“Since the market’s recovery in early 2012, this region (the Midwest) has not seen the kind of strong price rebound that has happened in many previously hard-hit cities,” said Yanling Mayer, housing economist and director of research at FNC.
Despite the slowdown in July, home prices nationally gained 5.5 percent on a year-over-year basis, with 19 markets at or above the national average.
Five markets have seen double-digit, year-over-year growth:
- Dallas (14.3 percent)
- Orlando (13.2 percent)
- Miami (12 percent)
- Las Vegas (12.6 percent)
- Portland (10.3 percent)
According to FNC, the best-performing markets in the ongoing recovery are Phoenix, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Orlando and Riverside.
