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U.S. home prices reached a new high in May for the sixth straight month, which may raise fears of another housing bubble roughly a decade after a previous one burst.
| The index Case-Shiller Home Prices Index Community; one-year change Seattle +13.3% Source: Standard & Poor’s |
The Standard & Poor’s CoreLogic national home price index, released Tuesday, increased 5.6 percent in May, the latest data available. It is now 3.2 percent higher than its July 2006 peak.
Some analysts downplay the notion of a new bubble, and the unrelenting price increases may already be cooling sales. Other aspects of the last decade’s housing boom and bust, such as rapid sales increases and surging home building, are not happening now.
“Price increases vary across the country, unlike the earlier period when rising prices were almost universal,” David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P, said.
A separate price index maintained by the National Association of Realtors is also rising steadily, though it remains about 9 percent below its 2006 peak. The S&P CoreLogic index tracks the same houses over time and is generally considered a better gauge of price changes, while the NAR’s measure is affected by the proportion of higher-priced or lower-priced homes on the market.
Tampa and Miami are included in the list of 20 cities. Tampa saw prices rise 6.8 percent during the last 12 months, while Miami saw an increase of 5.3 percent.
The national picture
Much of the price gain measured by the Case-Shiller Index is being driven by Seattle; Portland, Oregon; and San Francisco.
Herald Tribune July 25, 2017
