US house prices up 5.7% in December
House prices in the US rose a touch less than expected in December, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index.
The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite index was up 5.7% on the year, the same as November but just missing economists' expectations for a 5.8% increase.
Portland, San Francisco and Denver continued to report the highest year-on-year gains among the 20 cities, with another month of double-digit annual price increases.
Portland saw an 11.4% year-on-year price rise, followed by San Francisco with 10.3% and Denver with 10.2%.
“While home prices continue to rise, the pace is slowing a bit,” said David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
“Seasonally adjusted, Miami had lower prices this month than last and 10 other cities saw smaller increases than last month. Year-over-year, seven cities saw the rate of price increases wane. Even with some moderation, home prices in all but one city are rising faster than the 2.2% year-over-year increase in the CPI core rate of inflation.”