US home price growth flat in June

Home prices in Boston rose 3.3 percent in June, marking slight increases from the…

U.S. home rents jumped in July as house prices showed signs of flagging.

“Nationally, home prices continue to rise at a 4-5% annual rate, two to three times the rate of inflation”, said David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

S&P/Case-ShillerAnd the recent gains from the FHFA.

Sales rates are tracking at roughly double the pace of price growth, a mismatch that points ahead to price acceleration given how thin inventories are right now in the housing sector.

The regional breakdown for FHFA looks healthier than the headline with seven of nine regions showing monthly gains led by a 2.5% monthly surge in New England.

Month over month, the 10-city index rose 0.9%, while both the 20-city index and the national index gained 1.0%. Home resales rose to an annualized rate of 5.6 million units in July, the strongest reading since 2007.

The FHFA’s latest home price index also disappointed, showing prices rose 0.2% in June. The cities with the highest appreciation were Denver with 10.2 percent, San Francisco with 9.5 percent and Dallas with 8.2 percent.

Tuesday’s Case-Shiller report placed average house prices across 20 major cities at their winter-2005 levels, down 12.4 percent from their pre-collapse peak.

A separate Tuesday report, from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, put nationwide price growth at 0.2 percent from May to June.

“The missing piece in the housing picture”, he added, “has been housing starts and sales”.

Of the nine census divisions, the South Atlantic division experienced the strongest increase in the second quarter, posting a 1.7% quarterly increase and a 6.1% increase since past year.