Posted on 04/25/23
| News Source: Newsmax
U.S. single-family home prices increased in February after seven straight monthly declines likely as a dip in mortgage rates at the start of the year fueled demand, but the overall trend continued to point to a slowdown in house price inflation.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller national home price index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, rose 0.2% in February after adjusting for seasonal fluctuations. That followed a 0.2% fall in January. New and existing home sales rose in February.
On a year-on-year basis, the national home price index rose by a seasonally unadjusted 2.0% in February, marking the 10th straight month of decelerating annual home price gains. That followed a 3.7% increase in January. The small gain also reflected last year's large increases falling out of the calculation.
According to CoreLogic Chief Economist Selma Hepp, February's data suggested that "home prices nationally have bottomed out." The housing market has suffered the most from the Federal Reserve's fastest interest rate hiking campaign since the 1980s to tame inflation.
Residential investment has contracted for seven straight quarters, the longest such streak since the collapse of the housing bubble triggered by the 2007-2009 Great Recession.
But supply remains tight, which could limit any decline in house prices. According to the National Association of Realtors, there were less than one million homes on the market compared to 1.7 million prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.