Home Prices Decelerated in April
June 25 2019 - 11:58AM
Dow Jones News
By Will Parker
The growth of U.S. home prices continued to slow in April in
another sign of a weaker-than-expected selling season.
Average home prices in major metropolitan areas rose 3.5% in the
year ended in April, decelerating from 3.7% the prior month and
3.9% in February, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller
National Home Price Index. The decline reflects decreasing demand
and an increasing supply, analysts said.
"Home price gains continued in a trend of broad-based
moderation," said Philip Murphy, managing director of S&P Dow
Jones Indices.
The pace of home-price growth has been slowing for a year now.
But average prices are still increasing in most major U.S. cities
and continue to outpace inflation, according to the Case-Shiller
report.
U.S. cities with the largest price growth in April included Las
Vegas, Phoenix and Tampa, where prices increased by more than 5%.
But prices in the largest U.S. cities are growing slower than the
country at large.
The report's 10-city and 20-city composite indexes of the
largest metropolitan areas increased only 2.3% and 2.5%,
respectively. Seattle was the only major city where prices were
flat in April.
Economists described the yearlong trend of decelerating price
growth as a process of normalization after several years of steep
price climbs. "That really starts to wear on affordability after a
while, so I think things are evening out," said Ruben Gonzalez,
chief economist at Keller Williams Realty, Inc.
Price deceleration persists despite mortgage rates that are near
historic lows. Existing home sales figures for May reported earlier
this month by the National Association of Realtors suggest there
has been a recent uptick in buyers taking advantage of those low
rates after a slow start to the selling season. But some economists
said that uptick means the housing market might finally start
mirroring the growth of the U.S. economy.
For now prospective buyers can expect more modest price
increases than were seen in recent years, said Zillow economist
Matthew Speakman. "This slowdown has been widely expected for some
time, and is likely to give many would-be buyers some much-needed
breathing room."
Write to Will Parker at will.parker@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 25, 2019 12:43 ET (16:43 GMT)
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