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U.S. home price growth reached an all-time high in November, marking the 18th consecutive month of rising home prices despite a slow pace and cooling demand, according to data released Tuesday by S&P Dow Jones.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency and the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indexes recorded annual gains of 4.2 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively.
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The FHFA House Price Index (HPI) logged a 0.3 percent rise in November, with the previously reported October gain revised up to 0.5 percent. Monthly price changes across nine census divisions varied from a 0.6 percent decline in East South Central to a 0.9 percent uptick in West North Central and New England.
Annual growth across these divisions remained positive but slow, ranging from 1.8 percent in West South Central to 7.7 percent in New England.
Deputy Director for FHFA’s Division of Research and Statistics Dr. Anju Vajja attributes the slowdown to elevated mortgage rates dampening demand. “Annual house price gains continued to moderate in November, with all nine Census divisions showing slower pace of growth than a year ago,” Vajja said.
Dr. Anju Vajja
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index highlighted regional trends, with New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C. leading growth. The 10-City Composite rose 4.9 percent year over year, while the 20-City Composite posted a 4.3 percent gain.
In contrast, Tampa experienced the steepest decline, dropping 0.4 percent.
“With the exception of pockets of above-trend performance, national home prices are trending below historical averages,” said Brian Luke, head of commodities, real and digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices (DJI).
Brian D. Luke
“Unsurprisingly, the Northeast was the fastest growing region, averaging a 6.1 percent annual gain,” Luke added. “However, markets out west and in once red-hot Florida are trending well below average growth. Tampa’s decline is the first annual drop for any market in over a year. Returns for the Tampa market and entire Southern region rank in the bottom quartile of historical annual gains, with data going back to 1988.”
Despite a slight 0.1 percent dip in the pre-seasonally adjusted national index month over month in November, home prices hit their 18th consecutive all-time high on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Economists at Fannie Mae estimate that national home prices rose 5.8 percent in 2024 and will go up by another 3.5 percent in 2025. Fannie Mae forecasters expect annual home price appreciation to cool to 1.7 percent by the end of next year.
