Home-price gains in the U.S. slowed in July as
A national measure of prices rose 5% from a year earlier, according to data from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller. That was smaller than the 5.5% annual increase in June. After seasonal adjustment, prices in July rose 0.2% from the previous month, reaching a record for the 14th consecutive time.
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The index for July tracks a three-month period starting in May, when 30-year mortgage rates peaked at 7.22%, Freddie Mac data show. Borrowing costs have declined since then, but
At the same time, the supply of homes on the market swelled.
With financing already considerably cheaper than it was in May, and a "high probability" of further declines, "there is a significant chance that the rate of home-price growth will bottom out over the next months and then reaccelerate at the end of the year or at the beginning of next as the purchasing power of homebuyers begins to reflect a more favorable rate environment," said Ralph McLaughlin, senior economist at Realtor.com.
In July, a measure of prices in 20 cities rose 5.9% from a year earlier, compared with a 6.5% annual gain in June, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller data shows. New York again had the biggest increase, with 8.8%. Following were Las Vegas and Los Angeles, with 8.2% and 7.2%, respectively.