Home Prices Continue to Rise in September

National home prices continued to increase in September. Despite rising mortgage rates, limited inventory and solid but weakened demand provided solid support for home prices. Locally, all of 20 metro areas had positive home price appreciation in September.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, reported by S&P Dow Jones Indices, rose at a seasonally adjusted annual growth rate of 8.1% in September, slightly slower than a 9.8% increase in August. It is the eighth consecutive annual gain since February 2023. National home prices are now 69% higher than their last peak during the housing boom in March 2006.

On a year-over-year basis, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index posted a 3.9% annual gain in September, following a 2.5% increase in August.

Meanwhile, the Home Price Index, released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.6% in September, following an 8.8% increase in August. On a year-over-year basis, the FHFA Home Price NSA Index rose by 6.0% in September, up from 5.8% in the previous month.

In addition to tracking national home price changes, S&P CoreLogic reported home price indexes across 20 metro areas in September. All of 20 metro areas had positive home price appreciation. Their annual growth rates ranged from 1.9% to 18.9%. Among all 20 metro areas, 14 metro areas exceeded the national average of 8.1%. Las Vegas led the way with an 18.9% increase, followed by Detroit with a 17.1% increase and Phoenix with a 14.7% increase.

The scatter plot below lists the 20 major U.S. metropolitan areas’ annual growth rates in August and in September 2023. The X-axis presents the annual growth rates in August; the Y-axis presents the annual growth rates in September. Nine out of the 20 metro areas, the dots above the blue line, had an acceleration in home price growth, while the remaining 11 metro areas, located below the blue line, experienced deceleration.