Home prices gained the least in over two years, slowing for the seventh straight month in August as buyers gained leverage in negotiations and inventory grew.
A national measure of prices rose 1.5% from a year earlier, according to data from S&P Cotality Case-Shiller. It was the smallest gain since mid-2023 and followed a 1.6% increase in July.
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The easing of price growth is good news for buyers after a prolonged affordability squeeze caused by soaring prices and high mortgage rates. The index measures a three-month period ending in August, when mortgage rates were beginning to drop from near 7% and available listings were growing.
Among 20 cities, New York again led the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller index, with a 6.1% annual gain in prices. Following were Chicago and Cleveland with increases of 5.9% and 4.7%, respectively.
Prices in Tampa fell 3.3%, the lowest of the 20 cities measured. Prices in Miami dropped 1.7%.
"Looking ahead, the housing market appears to be finding a new equilibrium after the pandemic boom," Nicholas Godec, head of fixed income tradables and commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a statement. "With price growth running at half the rate of inflation and several major markets in decline, the rapid appreciation of recent years has clearly ended."
