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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Case-Shiller: National House Price Index increased 5.1% year-over-year in August

by Calculated Risk on 10/28/2014 09:00:00 AM

S&P/Case-Shiller released the monthly Home Price Indices for August ("August" is a 3 month average of June, July and August prices).

This release includes prices for 20 individual cities, two composite indices (for 10 cities and 20 cities) and the new monthly National index.

Note: Case-Shiller reports Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA), I use the SA data for the graphs.

From S&P: Home Price Gains Fade Further According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices

Data through August 2014, released today by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices ... continue to show a deceleration in home price gains. The 10-City Composite gained 5.5% year-over-year and the 20-City 5.6%, both down from the 6.7% reported for July. The National Index gained 5.1% annually in August compared to 5.6% in July.

On a monthly basis, the National Index and Composite Indices showed a slight increase of 0.2% for the month of August. Detroit led the cities with the gain of 0.8%, followed by Dallas, Denver and Las Vegas at 0.5%. Gains in those cities were offset by a decline of 0.4% in San Francisco followed by declines of 0.1% in Charlotte and San Diego. ...

“The deceleration in home prices continues,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The Sun Belt region reported its worst annual returns since 2012, led by weakness in all three California cities -- Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. Despite the weaker year-over-year numbers, home prices are still showing an overall increase, as the National Index increased for its eighth consecutive month."
Case-Shiller House Prices Indices Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows the nominal seasonally adjusted Composite 10, Composite 20 and National indices (the Composite 20 was started in January 2000).

The Composite 10 index is off 18.8% from the peak, and down 0.2% in August (SA). The Composite 10 is up 22.8% from the post bubble low set in Jan 2012 (SA).

The Composite 20 index is off 17.9% from the peak, and down 0.2% (SA) in August. The Composite 20 is up 23.8% from the post-bubble low set in Jan 2012 (SA).

The National index is off 11.3% from the peak, and up 0.4% (SA) in August.  The National index is up 19.7% from the post-bubble low set in Dec 2012 (SA).

Case-Shiller House Prices Indices The second graph shows the Year over year change in all three indices.

The Composite 10 SA is up 5.5% compared to August 2013.

The Composite 20 SA is up 5.6% compared to August 2013.

The National index SA is up 5.1% compared to August 2013.

Prices increased (SA) in 8 of the 20 Case-Shiller cities in August seasonally adjusted.  (Prices increased in 14 of the 20 cities NSA) Prices in Las Vegas are off 42.6% from the peak, and prices in Denver and Dallas are at new highs (SA).

This was slightly above than the consensus forecast for a 4.9% YoY increase for the National index, and suggests a further slowdown in price increases. I'll have more on house prices later.