American home buyers are cooling their expectations, but they still remain lofty. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices show prices declined in November. At the national level, home prices rolled back 8 months, but retained substantial gains.
US Home Prices Fell 0.6% In November
US home prices are coming down after a monumental run over the past few years. The US National Home Price Index (HPI) fell 0.6% in November, slowing annual growth to 7.7%. Annual growth has seen the rate decelerate sharply, falling from 9.2% a month before. Prices are roughly back to March 2022 levels, with larger metros seeing the sharpest declines.
US Home Price Growth Is Decelerating From Record Gains
The annual growth rate for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index.
Source: S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller; Better Dwelling.
Home Prices Are Falling In Every Major US Real Estate Market
Major US cities are seeing the sharpest declines, as higher interest rates meet high prices. The 20-City composite fell 0.5% in November, slowing annual growth to 6.8%. All 20 major markets in the index reported falling home prices for the month.
US Home Prices Are Falling In Every Major Market
The percent change in US home prices in November. Selected indices are the top 20 markets, and national composites.
Source: S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller; Better Dwelling.
Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Dallas Home Prices Saw The Sharpest Drop
The largest drop in home prices occurred in markets that recently saw a boom. Phoenix (-1.9%) showed the largest decline in the 20-City composite, being no stranger to booms and busts. It was followed by Las Vegas (-1.7%), and Dallas (-1.1%). All three of these markets still retain significant growth, despite the dramatic haircut.
Annual growth was still frothy in most markets, with Miami (+18.4%) leading the composite. It was followed by Tampa (+16.9%), and Atlanta (+12.7%). Even with fairly substantial declines in November, this would be considered very high growth for home prices.
US home prices are cooling but they aren’t folding nearly as fast as economists had expected. Higher interest rates are cooling the most extreme budgets, but this hasn’t broken sentiment. It’s also worth remembering that November’s data is before mortgage rates began to fall, and there was an uptick in mortgage applications.
We’ve got a long way to go before we see any meaningful rollback on home prices. I don’t think home prices are going to fall nearly enough, and will be the backbone of another bubble that will be a spectacular failure in a five-or-so years.
Feel bad for the kids that didn’t get to seize the opportunity to establish themselves with decent affordability before this mess happened… AGAIN
Most of the ones that couldn’t buy are the same group that entered the workforce right as the Global Financial Crisis kicked off. Not a great situation we’re treating them to, no wonder they’re focused things that don’t matter.
Good lord, prices are bonkers. People are already freaking out with a minor increase to interest rates and want full subsidies. The mentality is worse than 2008 by miles, since people assume a bailout will prevent any real consequences forever.
The Fed’s goal is to crash the market. If prices don’t come down, they’ll bring them down until you own nothing and love it.
The Fed isn’t trying to crash the market, they’re trying to get people to realize that risk happens. The more people believe there’s no downside, the harder the downside needs to be to convince them it exists.