U.S. home prices increased 0.6%, on an adjusted basis, in August compared with July and increased 5.3% compared with August 2015, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices.
The 10-city composite and the 20-city composite each posted a 0.2% increase, on an adjusted basis, compared with July.
Year over year, the 10-city composite posted a 4.3% increase, while the 20-city composite posted a gain of 5.1%.
On an unadjusted basis, U.S. home prices increased 0.4%, month over month. The 10-city composite and the 20-city composite each posted an increase of 0.4%, on an unadjusted basis, compared with July.
Portland, Seattle and Denver reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities over each of the previous seven months.
Portland led the way, with an 11.7% year-over-year increase, followed by Seattle at 11.4% and Denver at 8.8%.
Looking at the 20 major cities tracked in the report, 14 saw prices rise, two were unchanged, and four experienced negative monthly price changes in August.
“Supported by continued moderate economic growth, home prices extended recent gains,” says David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “All 20 cities saw prices higher than a year earlier, with 10 enjoying larger annual gains than last month. The seasonally adjusted month-over-month data showed that home prices in 14 cities were higher in August than in July. Other housing data, including sales of existing single-family homes, measures of housing affordability and permits for new construction, also point to a reasonably healthy housing market.
“With the national home price index almost surpassing the peak set 10 years ago, one question is how the housing recovery compares with the stock market recovery,” Blitzer adds. “Since the last recession ended in June 2009, the stock market, as measured by the S&P 500, rose 136 percent to the end of August, while home prices are up 23 percent. However, home prices did not reach bottom until February 2012, almost three years later. Using the 2012 date as the starting point, home prices are up 38 percent compared to 59 percent for stocks. While the stock market recovery has been greater than the rebound in home prices, the value of Americans’ homes at about $22.3 trillion is slightly larger than the value of stocks and mutual funds at $21.2 trillion.”