Home Prices Rise 12.4 Percent Nationally, But Monthly Gains Slow

• September 24th 2013

by UrbanTurf Staff

Home prices rose 12.4 percent nationally between July 2012 and July 2013, according to the Case-Shiller report released this morning. Between June and July, the 10 and 20-city indices rose 1.9% and 1.8%, respectively. The 12.4 percent year-over-year price gain was the strongest gain for the index since 2006.

Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and San Francisco all posted year-over-year price gains of more than 20%. In Las Vegas, prices rose 27.5% annually. Between June and July, home prices in the DC area increased 1.4%, and 6.0%, year-over-year.

While home prices are up in all of the 20 metro areas covered by the index, price gains have slowed in 15, which Case-Shiller’s Robert M. Blitzer says will likely continue:

“Since April 2013, all 20 cities are up month to month; however, the monthly rates of price gains have declined. More cities are experiencing slow gains each month than the previous month, suggesting that the rate of increase may have peaked.”

And, while the year-over-year increases are notable, they should be put in perspective: home prices across the country are still about 21 percent lower than their peak in 2006.

The Case-Shiller Disclaimer

When considering the Case-Shiller findings, recall that the index is based on closed sales and home price data from several months ago. (A better indicator of where area prices stand right now is the August report from RealEstate Business Intelligence.) Another thing that is important to note is that the main index only covers single-family home prices, so co-op and condo prices are not included in the analysis that is widely reported. Chicago and New York City are two of the cities where Case-Shiller provides a separate index for condo prices, but DC does not have a similar index.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly when considering the conclusions of the index, the area covered by Case-Shiller can only very loosely be described as the “DC area”. According to the site, the following cities are included: DC, Calvert MD, Charles MD, Frederick MD, Montgomery MD, Prince Georges MD, Alexandria City VA, Arlington VA, Clarke VA, Fairfax VA, Fairfax City VA, Falls Church City VA, Fauquier VA, Fredericksburg City VA, Loudoun VA, Manassas City VA, Manassas Park City VA, Prince William VA, Spotsylvania VA, Stafford VA, Warren VA, Jefferson WV.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/case-shiller_home_prices_rise_12.4_percent_nationally/7599.