Case-Shiller: Pace of Housing Price Hikes Continues to Slow

The index tracks prices on a three-month rolling average. March represents the three-month average of January, February and March prices.

Average home prices at the March are back at their levels in mid-2004.

Compared with their peak in the summer of 2006, home prices on both indexes remain down about 19% to 20%. Since the low of March 2012, home prices are up 24% on both the 10-city and 20-city indexes.

The chairman of the S&P index committee said:

The year-over-year changes suggest that prices are rising more slowly. Annual price increases for the two Composites have slowed in the last four months and 13 cities saw annual price changes moderate in March. The National Index also showed decelerating gains in the last quarter. … Housing indicators remain mixed. April housing starts recovered the drop in March but virtually all the gain was in apartment construction, not single family homes. New home sales also rebounded from recent weakness but remain soft. Mortgage rates are near a seven month low but recent comments from the Fed point to bank lending standards as a problem. Other comments include arguments that student loan debt is preventing many potential first time buyers from entering the housing market.

Another housing data point released Tuesday morning comes from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The agency’s monthly house price index rose 1.3% in the first quarter of 2014, continuing an eleven-quarter string of index increases. House prices rose 6.6% year-over-year in the first quarter, and the seasonally adjusted index rose 0.7% month-over-month in March.

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