House prices moved higher last month, with cities in the Northwest seeing the biggest gains and several areas reaching new highs.
For the month of April, the S&P/Case-Shiller Composite-20 Home Price Index was 186.63, according to a report Tuesday.
The home price index, which was not adjusted for seasonal factors,
ascended by 1.1 percent compared to the previous month.
Home prices have increased by 5.4 percent versus the same month last year.
S&P Dow Jones Indices, which publishes the index, calls it “the leading measure of U.S. home prices.”
“The housing sector continues to turn in a strong price performance with the S&P/Case-Shiller National Index rising at a 5 percent or greater annual rate for six consecutive months,” David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices stated in the report. “The home price increases reflect the low unemployment rate, low mortgage interest rates, and consumers’ generally positive outlook.”
But Blitzer cautioned about the outlook for home prices, with home buyers being distracted by Great Britain’s exit from the European Union and the upcoming U.S. elections.
Home prices in Portland, Oregon, were up 12.3 percent from April 2015 — the biggest year-over-year gain of the 20 metropolitan statistical areas tracked in the index.
Seattle followed with a 10.7 percent increase from a year earlier, then Denver’s 9.5 percent and Dallas’ 8.6 percent.
San Francisco and Tampa, Florida, shared the fifth spot each with a 7.8 percent increase in home prices from a year prior.
Blitzer noted that record-high prices were established in seven cities: Denver; Dallas; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco; Seattle; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Boston.
With an increase of just 1.9 percent, the Washington MSA had the weakest year-over-year performance.
“Seasonally adjusted figures in the report show that three cities saw lower prices in April compared to only one city in March,” Blitzer explained. “Among the 20 cities, 16 saw either declines or smaller increases in monthly prices in the seasonally adjusted numbers.”
