U.S. home price growth slows in May - S&P Dow Jones Indices

S&P reported on Tuesday its Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which tracks home prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas, rose 2.4 percent y-o-y in May, following an unrevised 2.5 percent y-o-y increase in April. That was the smallest annual advance in house prices since August 2012.

Economists had expected an advance of 2.4 percent y-o-y.

Las Vegas (+6.4 percent y-o-y), Phoenix (+5.7 percent y-o-y) and Tampa (+5.1 percent y-o-y) recorded the highest y-o-y gains in May.

Meanwhile, the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which measures all nine U.S. census divisions, was up 3.4 percent y-o-y in May, down from 3.5 percent y-o-y in the previous month.

“Nationally, year-over-year home price gains were lower in May than in April, but not dramatically so and a broad-based moderation continued,” noted Philip Murphy, Managing Director and Global Head of Index Governance at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Among 20 major U.S. city home price indices, the average YOY gain has been declining for the past year or so and now stands at the moderate nominal YOY rate of 3.1%”.