Annual home price appreciation continued its upward trend in February, accelerating on both an annual and monthly basis.
Prices were up 6.4% YOY, an increase from January’s 6% gain and the fastest annual rate since November 2022, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price NSA Index.
Month-over-month data showed prices on an upswing for the first time since October 2024. The National Index, 20-City Composite, and the 10-City Composite registered gains of 0.6%, 0.9% and 1.0%, respectively.
Monthly prices were cooling at the end of 2023 into 2024, but increased demand and still-tight inventory have turned that trend around.
Home prices are now “at or near all-time highs,” according to Brian D. Luke, Head of Commodities, Real & Digital Assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
“Since the previous peak in prices in 2022, this marks the second time home prices have pushed higher in the face of economic uncertainty,” he said. “The first decline followed the start of the Federal Reserve’s hiking cycle. The second decline followed the peak in average mortgage rates last October. Enthusiasm for potential Fed cuts and lower mortgage rates appears to have supported buyer behavior, driving the 10- and 20-City Composites to new highs.”
San Diego once again reported the highest annual gains at 11.4%, followed by Chicago and Detroit with 8.9% increases.
Portland, yet again ranking lowest after two months of declines, still saw a YOY jump of 2.2%.
Luke noted that back-to-office mandates have made the Northeast region the best performing market of the last half-year. Just as remote work sent Americans south to warmer, cheaper climates, reversals in work trends may boost Boston and New York City.
In Washington D.C. there has been a crackdown on remote work for government officials. Mayor Muriel Bowser changed the city’s telework policy in March to allow only one work-from-home day per week and has urged President Biden to instate a similar policy for federal workers.
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