U.S. home prices increased 0.2% on an adjusted basis in May compared with April and increased about 5.0% compared with May 2015, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index report.
Effective as of this month, the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index has been renamed the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index.
The 10-city composite saw home prices decrease 0.2%, month over month, on an adjusted basis, while the 20-city composite saw prices decrease 0.1%.
On an unadjusted basis, U.S. home prices increased 1.2% in May compared with April. The 10-city composite saw prices increase 0.8%, on an unadjusted basis, while the 20-city composite saw prices increase 0.9%.
Year over year, the 10-city composite saw home prices increase 4.4% in May compared with May 2015, while the 20-city composite saw home prices increase 5.2%.
Portland, Ore.; Seattle; and Denver saw home prices increase the most, on average, with Portland posting an increase of 12.5%, year over year, followed by Seattle at 10.7% and Denver at 9.5%.
“Home prices continue to appreciate across the country,” says David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a statement. “Overall, housing is doing quite well. In addition to strong prices, sales of existing homes reached the highest monthly level since 2007 as construction of new homes showed continuing gains. The SCE Housing Expectations Survey published by the New York Federal Reserve Bank shows that consumers expect home prices to continue rising, though at a somewhat slower pace.”
Blitzer notes, however, that “regional patterns seen in home prices are shifting.”
“Over the last year, the Pacific Northwest has been quite strong, while prices in the previously strong spots of San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles saw more modest increases,” he explains. “The two hottest areas during the housing boom were Florida and the Southwest. Miami and Tampa have recovered in the last few months, while Las Vegas and Phoenix remain weak. When home prices began to recover, New York and Washington saw steady price growth; now both are among the weakest areas in the country.”