US home prices are nearly back to all-time highs reached last summer

Some of the most active homebuyers during the COVID-19 pandemic are now pumping the brakes on purchases.

Jaskaran Kooner/Getty Images

• The Case-Shiller US National Composite Home Price Index showed home prices climbed for the fifth straight month in June.
• The index is just 0.02% below its all-time high reached last summer.
• On an annual basis, June's biggest price gains came in Chicago, Cleveland, and New York.

US home prices have climbed for five consecutive months and are now just 0.02% below their record high reached last summer, Case-Shiller data released Tuesday shows.

Seasonally adjusted, the Case-Shiller US National Composite Home Price Index increased by 0.7% in June compared with May, matching the prior month's 0.7% reading. In Case-Shiller's 20-city index, data showed that prices climbed in all 20 metros.

"As we've noted previously, the recovery in home prices is broadly based," Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P DJI, said in a statement. "Over the last 12 months, 10 cities show positive returns. Otherwise said, half the cities in our sample now sit at all-time high prices."

On an annual basis, June's biggest price gains came in Chicago, Cleveland, and New York with 4.2%, 4.1%, and 3.4% gains, respectively. Those are the same three cities that topped the May leaderboard, Lazzara said.

The two worst performers in price growth were San Francisco and Seattle, with 9.7% and 8.8% annual declines, respectively.

"June is the fifth consecutive month in which home prices have increased across the US," Lazzara said. "With 2023 half over, the National Composite has risen 4.7%, which is slightly above the median full calendar year increase in more than 35 years of data. We recognize that the market's gains could be truncated by increases in mortgage rates or by general economic weakness, but the breadth and strength of this month's report are consistent with an optimistic view of future results."

Separately, the Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index showed a similar reading Tuesday that US house prices climbed 3.0% between the second quarters of 2022 and 2023. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, prices were up 1.7%.

"U.S. house prices appreciated at a slightly higher rate in the second quarter amid low inventory," Anju Vajja, principal associate director in FHFA's Division of Research and Statistics, said in a statement. "While prices in a number of western states continued to decline year-over-year, house prices rose in all states quarter-over-quarter."

With mortgage rates still hovering near 7%, affordability continues to weigh on Americans. It's especially difficult for young adult buyers, who have lower earnings and less savings, and must face steep starter-home costs. The median sale price for a typical starter home reached an all-time high of $243,000 in June.

A spring Redfin survey found that 38% of buyers under 30 have to turn to family — either cash gifts or inheritance — to help afford a down payment. 

"As a result, a large share of young homeowners can be labeled 'nepo-homebuyers,' meaning they received family money to purchase a home," Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather wrote in a Forbes column. "This phenomenon contributes to intergenerational wealth inequality and limits economic opportunities for young people and their families."

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