U.S. home prices decreased 0.4% on an adjusted basis in April compared with March but were up 2.7% compared with April 2024, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index.
Month-over-month, the index’s 10-city and 20-city composites each saw a 0.3% decrease.
Year-over-year, the 10-city composite saw an annual increase of 4.1%, down from 4.8% the previous month, while the 20-city composite posted an annual increase of 3.4%, down from 4.1% the previous month.
New York again reported the highest annual gain among the 20 cities with a 7.9% increase in April, followed by Chicago and Detroit with annual increases of 6.0% and 5.5%, respectively.
Tampa posted the lowest return, falling 2.2%.
“The housing market continued its gradual deceleration in April, with annual price gains slowing to their most modest pace in nearly two years,” says Nicholas Godec, CFA, CAIA, CIPM, head of fixed income tradables and commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a statement. “What’s particularly striking is how this cycle has reshuffled regional leadership — markets that were pandemic darlings are now lagging, while historically steady performers in the Midwest and Northeast are setting the pace. This rotation signals a maturing market that’s increasingly driven by fundamentals rather than speculative fervor.”
Godec noted that home prices in April were at the slowest year-over-year appreciation since mid-2023.
“This deceleration was broad-based, with the 20-city composite advancing 3.4 percent and the 10-city composite up 4.1 percent — both substantially below their recent peaks,” he says. “The composition of these gains tells an important story: Approximately 1.7 percentage points of April’s annual increase occurred over the past six months, indicating that price momentum has been concentrated in the recent spring selling season rather than sustained throughout the year.”
Photo: Ian MacDonald