Home Prices Continued to Grow in March

The year-over-year appreciation of the 20-City Case-Shiller Composite Index was 5.4% in March, the same as in February. The 10-City Composite Index appreciation was also unchanged at 4.7%. The National Index, which covers home prices in all nine census divisions increased by 5.2%, down from 5.3% in February.

On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the 20-City Composite increased by 0.9%, the 10-City Composite increased by 0.8%, and the National Index increased by 0.1% in March.

“Home prices are continuing to rise at a 5% annual rate, a pace that has held since the start of 2015,” said David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Another factor behind rising home prices is the limited supply of homes on the market. The number of homes currently on the market is less than two percent of the number of households in the U.S., the lowest percentage seen since the mid-1980s.”

Home prices rose in nineteen of the twenty cities covered by the index. Minneapolis saw the largest gains, with prices increasing by 1.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis, while home prices in Cleveland fell by 0.1%.

Read the S&P release.