Not long ago, home prices were seeing double-digit, year-over-year gains. Home buyers were active and, due to a lower-than-normal number of homes available for sale, bidding wars had prices surging higher. Since then, things have changed. In fact, according to the latest numbers from the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index, home prices were only 1.4 percent higher than year-before levels through the end of October. Nicholas Godec, CFA, CAIA, CIPM, head of fixed income tradables & commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices, says the market has downshifted. “October’s data show the housing market setting into a much slower gear, with the National Composite Index up only about 1.4 percent year over year – among the weakest performances since mid-2023,” Godec said. “This figure is essentially unchanged from September’s 1.3 percent annual gain and represents less than a third of the 5.1 percent average home price increase recorded in 2024.” Still, regional variances remain. For example, Chicago’s up nearly 6 percent, while in Miami, Dallas, and Phoenix, prices are down about 1.5 percent from last year. (source)
