S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) has published the March 2024 results for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices. According to the key measure of U.S. home prices, all of the major metro markets saw monthly price gains.
“The latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index showed prices reached a record high in March,” said Realtor.com Sr. Economist Ralph Mclaughlin. “The national, 10- and 20-city composites posted annual price gains ranging from 6.5% to 8.2%, a pick-up over the gains seen in the prior month, which ranged from 6.4% to 8.0%.This month’s index data tracks January, February, and March a period through which mortgage rates dipped to 6.6%, then climbed back to over 6.9% before settling in the 6.7%-6.8% range. Home inventory increased 23.5% in March, but remained nearly 40% lower than pre-pandemic levels. Existing home sales decreased 4.3% in March following February’s large gain. Given the surge in mortgage rates between the end of March and the beginning of May, we expect both home price growth, inventory, and home sales to moderate in future housing market data releases.”
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index The NSA Index, which includes all nine U.S. census divisions, indicated a 6.5% annual growth in March, matching the previous month. The 10-City Composite increased by 8.2%, up from 8.1% the previous month.
The 20-City Composite increased to 7.4% year-over-year, up from 7.3% the previous month. In March, San Diego had the biggest year-over-year growth among the 20 cities, with an 11.1% increase. New York and Cleveland followed with 9.2% and 8.8%, respectively. Denver has the lowest year-over-year growth rate, with a 2.1% increase in March.
The following chart shows the index levels for the U.S. National, 10-City, and 20-City Composite
Indices going back to 1987:
“The Midwest and Northeast continue to be popular markets with homebuyers as prices keep climbing annually in the regions,” Mclaughlin said. “Both the April Hottest Housing Markets and the April Rental Report highlighted this trend as well. Southern markets saw slower price growth as relatively abundant new and existing inventory is helping relieve price pressure in the region. The West region continues to see price gains, with San Diego reporting the highest annual price growth (+11.4%) among the 20 cities tracked, followed by New York (+9.2%) and Cleveland (+8.8%). Denver saw the slowest growth with prices climbing just 2.1% annually.”
“Though inventory is still tight, seller activity continued to pick up into the early spring, climbing 30.4% year-over-year in April, in part due to a 12.2% increase in new listings in the month,” Mclaughlin said. “Affordable inventory (homes priced between $200,000 and $350,000) saw a phenomenal 41.0% increase annually in April. While this is certainly welcome news to inventory-constrained homebuyers, recent mortgage rate increases along with inventory sitting at well below pre-pandemic levels is bringing yet another challenging season for those looking to buy.”
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices are published on the last Tuesday of each month at 9:00 am
ET. They are constructed to accurately track the price path of typical single-family homes located in
each metropolitan area provided. Each index combines matched price pairs for thousands of individual
houses from the available universe of arms-length sales data.
To read the full report, including more data, charts, and methodology, click here.
