US Home Prices Hit Record High Again in October

Home sale prices rose 0.6 percent from September to October, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index. It was the ninth consecutive month of price gains and the fastest annual rate of price growth of the year.

Elevated mortgage rates and deflated inventory made October 2023 seem much more expensive for buyers than it was in October 2022. The national index posted a 4.8 percent gain from last October, greater than the 4 percent annual gain recorded in September.

The 10-City Composite and 20-City Composite indices posted annual gains of 5.7 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively. All but one of the 20 cities tracked in the report recorded annual price increases, with Portland as the exception.

Detroit notched the largest annual price growth for the second consecutive month, up 8.1 percent year-over-year. While San Diego placed second, New York came in a close third with prices rising 7.1 percent from last October. Nearly half of the cities tracked — including Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Charlotte and New York — saw prices hit an all-time high in October.

Prices are growing faster in the Northeast and Midwest compared to the Southwest and West. Las Vegas and Phoenix, which both experienced year-to-year price drops in September, resumed year-to-year price gains in October.

Mortgage rates hit a two-decade high in October, so it’s not necessarily a major surprise that home prices continued growing as more buyers were sidelined from the market and inventory tightened. Since then, however, mortgage rates have softened and builders appear poised to tackle some of the supply struggles in the market, meaning price gains could be at an inflection point.