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Home prices, which have been shooting up since last year, grew at a slower pace in April, showing signs of a potential cool down in the red-hot housing market, according to new data from S&P Case-Shiller on Tuesday.
Home prices are up significantly from last year, but could cool by later in 2022 thanks to higher … [+]
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Home-price growth slowed in April, rising 20.4% compared to last year but down from a 20.6% growth rate in the previous month, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, which measures average home prices in major cities.
For the first time in five months, most of the 20 cities in the index saw a monthly decline in price gains, while metropolitan areas in the South such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Miami and Tampa saw the biggest increases since March.
The Case-Shiller Index reports on a two-month delay and constitutes a three-month moving average of repeat-sales data: Since then, median existing-home prices spiked 15% in May, topping $400,000 for the first time on record, according to the National Association of Realtors.
What’s more, the average rate on the closely followed 30-year fixed mortgage had just crossed 5% in April (up from 3% in January), but has since spiked past 6% in June.
Rising mortgage rates this year have made home buying more expensive for many Americans, but demand to purchase homes continues to far outpace supply—with a limited inventory of houses for sale.
“We noted last month that mortgage financing has become more expensive as the Federal Reserve ratchets up interest rates, a process that had only just begun when April data were gathered,” said Craig Lazzara, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a recent grade.