U.S. home prices continued their upward trajectory in April, rising 0.3% on an adjusted basis compared with March and up 6.4% compared with April 2017, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index.
Without seasonal adjustment, home prices increased 1.0% in April compared with March.
On an adjusted basis, the index’s 10-city and 20-city composites posted, 0.1% and 0.2% month-over-month increases, respectively.
On an unadjusted basis, the 10-city and 20-city composites reported increases of 0.6% and 0.8%, respectively.
Seventeen of 20 cities reported increases after seasonal adjustment; 19 of 20 cities reported increases before seasonal adjustment.
Year-over-year and on an adjusted basis, the 10-city composite annual increase came in at 6.2%, down from 6.4% the previous month. The 20-city composite posted a 6.6% year-over-year gain, down from 6.7% in the previous month.
Seattle, Las Vegas, and San Francisco continue to report the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities. In April, Seattle led the way with a 13.1% year-over-year price increase, followed by Las Vegas at 12.7% and San Francisco at 10.9%.
Although home prices are hitting new highs, when one factors inflation in, most major cities are still not back at their pre-recession peaks.
“Looking back to the peak of the boom in 2006, 10 of the 20 cities tracked by the indices are higher than their peaks; the other ten are below their high points,” says David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a statement. “The National Index is also above its previous all-time high, the 20-city index slightly up versus its peak, and the 10-city is a bit below.
“However, if one adjusts the price movements for inflation since 2006, a very different picture emerges,” he says. “Only three cities – Dallas, Denver and Seattle – are ahead in real, or inflation-adjusted, terms. The National Index is 14% below its boom-time peak and Las Vegas, the city with the longest road to a new high, is 47% below its peak when inflation is factored in.”
Blitzer says lack of inventory continues to be a major factor pushing up home prices.
“The months-supply is currently 4.3 months, up from levels below four months earlier in the year, but still low,” he says.