Boston Condos for Sale and Apartments for Rent
Home prices chilled for the fourth month in a row
The housing market sounded a now-familiar refrain, sinking in October under the weight of rising mortgage rates.
Average home prices in the nation’s largest metropolitan areas are still well above where they were a year ago, but their growth is decelerating. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index fell 0.5 percent from September to a 9.2 percent annual gain in October.
October was the fourth consecutive month with a decline after all regions included in the 20-city composite reported decreases.
Mortgage Rates Surge
Prices have weakened while mortgage rates have surged following major interest rate hikes in the Federal Reserve’s efforts to tackle inflation. Mortgage rates are beginning to come down, but are still around double from earlier this year and prices aren’t expected to strengthen anytime soon.
The highest annual housing growth
The highest annual growth took place in the South and Southeast, more than doubling gains made in the Northeast, Midwest and West.
Two Florida cities were again the biggest year-to-year winners. Prices in Miami and Tampa increased by 21 percent and 20.5 percent year-over-year, respectively. Both of those cities were closer to recording 25 percent annual increases in September, however, showing how growth is slowing in the country’s hottest housing markets.
The weakest housing markets in October
The weakest housing markets in October, meanwhile, were in San Francisco and Seattle. The former still boasted a year-over-year gain in prices, but it was by an uninspiring 0.6 percent. Prices in San Francisco have declined more than 10 percent since peaking in May.
The bottom line on the Case-Shiller Index
The Case-Shiller Index uses a three-month moving average to determine monthly prices. The latest report, for October, uses data from sales that closed starting in August.
