US home prices hit record highs, but growth slows

House-price growth in the US slowed in July but still reached another all-time high, according to closely watched S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller data on Tuesday.

The national home price NSA index, a composite of single-family home price indices for the nine US census divisions, increased by 5% on last year, down from a 5.5% gain in June.

The 10-city home price index, which tracks prices across the 10 largest metropolitan areas of the US, saw annual growth slow to 6.8% from 7.4%.

Meanwhile, the 20-city home price index – the more closely followed indicator – slowed to 5.9% from 6.5%, coming in slightly ahead of the 5.8% rise expected by the market. Nevertheless, this was still the slowest increase in home prices since November 2023.

New York recorded the highest year-on-year growth at 8.8%, followed by Las Vegas and LA at 8.2% and 7.2%, respectively.

"Accounting for seasonality of home purchases, we have witnessed 14 consecutive record highs in our National Index," said Brian Luke, head of commodities, real and digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

"The growth has come at a cost, with all but two markets decelerating last month, eight markets seeing monthly declines, and the slowest annual growth nationally in 2024. Overall, the indices continue to grow at a rate that exceeds long-run averages after accounting for inflation."