US Home Prices Rose For the 7th Straight Month In September... Led By Detroit!

Home prices in America's 20 largest cities rose for the 7th straight month in September (the latest data released by S&P Global Case-Shiller today), up 0.67% MoM (slightly worse than the +0.8% MoM expected).

That pushed the YoY rise in prices up 3.92% - the fastest pace since Dec '22 - but as the chart shows the MoM gains are slowing rapidly.

Source: Bloomberg

"On a year-over-year basis, the three best-performing metropolitan areas in September were Detroit (+6.7%), San Diego (+6.5%), and New York (+6.3%)," according to Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director at S&P DJI.

"We’ve commented before on the breadth of the housing market’s strength, which continued to be impressive. On a seasonally adjusted basis, all 20 cities showed price increases in September"

But, judging by the resumption of the rise of mortgage rates since the Case-Shiller data was created, we would expect prices to also resume their decline...

Source: Bloomberg

Inventory is increasing (as homebuilders dump new homes on to the market), but existing home-buyers and -sellers are stuck still (affordability for the former and the mortgage cost gap for the latter), and - despite the market's hopes - The Fed isn't cutting rates any time soon (unless the economy utterly collapses). Be careful what you wish for...