'Affordabiity Crisis' Worsens As US Home Prices Soar Near Record High In Feb

Home prices in America's 20 largest cities rose for the 12th straight month in February (the latest data released by S&P Global Case-Shiller today), up a massive 0.61% MoM (massively more than the 0.1% exp).

Source: Bloomberg

That pushed the YoY price up a stunning 7.29% (far otter than the 6.70% exp). That is the fastest price rise since Oct 2022.

"Since the previous peak in prices in 2022, this marks the second time home prices have pushed higher in the face of economic uncertainty," according to Brian D. Luke, Head of Commodities, Real & Digital Assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

"Our National Composite rose by 6.4% in February, the fastest annual rate since November 2022."

San Diego is back at the top, with home prices rising double-digits...

Source: Bloomberg

Given the smoothing and heavy lag in the Case-Shiller data, it's hard to find a causal relationship between prices and mortgage rates, but with rates remaining above 7%, it seems hard to believe prices can continue their advance...

Source: Bloomberg

...but home prices are still tightly correlated with Fed Reserves...

Source: Bloomberg

...and median new home prices remain notably decoupled, with Case-Shiller's data back near record highs...

How is Powell going to cut rates when home prices are rising at over y% per year?