Atlanta is Still Experiencing New Highs in Home Pricing

Posted: February 18, 2024 | Categories: News

Home Prices Are Cooling — But Not in These 6 Cities

Home prices in November cooled after nine months of stronger gains. But some locales were still red hot.

Prices in November rose from the prior month at the slowest pace since February, according to the seasonally-adjusted S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.

Seasonally adjusted home prices nationally inched up 0.24%, slower than October's 0.59% month-over-month gain. Prices in an index tracking 20 of the nation's large metropolitan areas increased a seasonally adjusted 0.15% slower than the 0.63% gain one month prior.

In a sign of seasonality setting in, unadjusted prices dropped in November from October, with prices inching down 0.18% nationally, and declining 0.24% in an index tracking 20 large metropolitan areas. A month-over-month drop isn't uncommon at this time of year: on average, national prices dip 0.05% from October to November, historic Case-Shiller data show.

In Novermer, "U.S. home prices edged downward from their all-time high," Brian D. Luke, head of commodities, real & digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a statement referring to the unadjsted data. "The streak of nine monthly gains ended in November, setting the index back to levels last seen over the summer months."

Some cities were still notching new highs, the data show. Unadjusted prices rose to the highest levels since at least 1987 in Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, Charlotte, New York, and Cleveland.

Prices nationally were 5.1% higher than one year prior, and were 5.4% higher in an index tracking 20 of the nation's large cities. The 20-city gain was the largest since November 2023, but fell short of consensus expectations that called for a 5.7% increase, according to FactSet. Of the 20 cities tracked by the index, Portland was the only metro where prices remained lower than they were one year prior.

A low supply of homes for sale, combined with late 2022's housing market correction, likely contributed to the strong year-over-year reading. These were 1.13 million previously owned homes for sale at the end of November, well below the prepandemic average of about 2.4 million, according to National Association of Realtors data.

A drop in mortgage rates from October's highs means home price gains could continue. "The rate has since fallen over 1% which could support further annual gains in home prices," Luke said.

Author: Barron's