U.S. home prices decreased 0.1% in July compared with June but were up 1.7% compared with August 2024, signaling home price depreciation continued in most markets, according to the newly renamed S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Index.
The index’s 10-city and 20-city composites – measuring home price growth in the 20 largest U.S. cities – each posted drops of -0.1%.
Of the 20 major metros, 15 saw home prices fall in July compared with June, underscoring broad cooling even during peak buying season.
“July’s results reinforce that the housing market has downshifted to a much slower gear,” says Nicholas Godec, CFA, CAIA, CIPM, head of fixed income tradables and commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in the report. “National home prices rose just 1.7 percent year-over-year, down from June’s 1.9 percent pace and a far cry from the double-digit gains of two years ago.”
“In fact, this is one of the weakest annual price increases in the past decade – and notably, it’s below the 2.7 percent rise in consumer prices over the same period,” Godec says. “In other words, U.S. home values have essentially stagnated after inflation, marking the third straight month of real housing wealth decline for homeowners. This reversal is striking: during the pandemic boom, home prices were climbing far faster than inflation, rapidly boosting homeowners’ real equity. Now, the situation has flipped – over the last year, owning a home yielded a modest nominal gain, but an inflation-adjusted loss.”
“Looking ahead, the housing market appears to be settling into a new, more measured equilibrium,” Godec adds. “The era of 15 percent to 20 percent annual home price jumps is behind us, and in its place we’re seeing growth rates closer to overall inflation – or even a bit below it. While that means homeowners aren’t gaining wealth at
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