United States: Home price growth ends 2017 on a strong note
Home prices continued to climb in December, with the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite home price index increasing 0.2% on a month-on-month basis—matching the rise recorded in November. When adjusted for seasonal factors, house prices grew 0.6% from the previous month, in line with market expectations and slightly below the 0.7% rise recorded in November.
On an annual basis, home prices increased 6.3% in December, marginally below the 6.4% growth rate—the highest since July 2014—logged in November. Seattle and Las Vegas again recorded the largest increases in house prices among the 20 cities that comprise the index, each reporting double-digit growth on an annual basis. Meanwhile, and similar to last month’s results, Chicago and Washington registered the weakest annual price rises, of 2.6% and 2.8%, respectively.
Commenting on this month’s outturn, David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said:
“The rise in home prices should be causing the same nervous wonder aimed at the stock market after its recent bout of volatility. Across the 20 cities covered by S&P Corelogic Case Shiller Home Price Indices, the average increase from the financial crisis low is 62%; over the same period, inflation was 12.4%. None of the cities covered in this release saw real, inflation-adjusted prices fall in 2017.”