May data from the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices reveals that housing prices increased month over month in all 20 major metro markets analyzed. Of the 20 cities, Chicago, Cleveland, and New York posted the highest year-over-year gains.
“Home shoppers were celebrating the market correction last year as lower prices, incentives, and less competition made the market feel more manageable. Unfortunately, price data across the new and existing home markets tells us that the correction was very short lived. In many markets, prices are below where they were at peak, but the lack of supply is pushing home prices back up,” says Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, recorded a -0.5% annual decrease in May, down from a loss of -0.1% in the previous month. The 10-City Composite decreased -1.0%, which is a slight rise from the -1.1% decrease in April. The 20-City Composite cited a -1.7% year-over-year loss, same as in the previous month.
There was an even split of 10 cities reporting lower prices and those reporting higher prices in the year ending May 2023 versus the year ending April 2023. “Regional differences continue to be striking. This month’s league table shows the ‘Revenge of the Rust Belt,’ as Chicago (+4.6%), Cleveland (+3.9%), and New York (+3.5%) were the top performers. If this seems like an unusual occurrence to you, it seems that way to me, too,” says Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
“It’s been five years to the month since a cold-weather city held the top spot (and that was Seattle, which isn’t all that cold). Since May 2018, the top-ranked cities have been Las Vegas (12 months), Phoenix (33 months), Tampa (5 months), and Miami (9 months),” Lazzara adds. “At the other end of the scale, the worst performers continue to cluster near the Pacific coast, with Seattle (-11.3%) and San Francisco (-11.0%) at the bottom. This month the Midwest (+2.7%) unseated the Southeast (+2.1%) as the country’s strongest region. The West (-6.9%) remains weakest.”
Before seasonal adjustment, the U.S. National Index posted a 1.2% month-over-month increase in May, while the 10-City and 20-City Composites both posted increases of 1.5%.
