US housing market: Housing price growth slowed further in August

U.S. home prices rose 13.0% year over year in August, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index.

That pace was above year-ago levels but was comparably weaker than July’s 15.6% increase. The slowdown between July and August represented the “largest deceleration in the history of the index,” Craig Lazzara, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said.

Deceleration persists in top cities; Miami overtakes Tampa

The slowing of price increases was seen in all 20 cities covered in the index. The 20-City Composite Index rose 13.1% year over year in August, compared to the previous month’s 16.0% gain. The 10-City Composite Index climbed 12.1% year over year, which was weaker than the 14.9% rise seen in July.

Miami reported the highest annual house price increase across all 20 covered cities at 28.6%. Tampa, Fla., which had been experiencing the biggest price increases prior to August, recorded the second-largest rise at 28.0%. Charlotte, N.C., came in third as its home prices rose 21.3% year over year in August.

Top homebuilder, residential mortgage lender

U.S. homebuilder stocks continue to slump, posting a median one-year total return of negative 29.7% as of Oct. 25.

Taylor Morrison Home Corp.’s shares have performed better than the rest of the U.S. homebuilder sector but still posted a one-year total return of negative 3.5%. The company sold 13,410 homes over the course of the 12 months prior to June 30, a 6.1% increase from the year-ago period.

Rocket Mortgage LLC still leads the list of U.S. residential mortgage lenders year-to-date, originating $89.20 billion in residential mortgages through July. However, that represented a 55.1% drop from the same period in the previous year.

Home sales, starts see monthly decline in September

New single-family home sales in the U.S. dropped 10.9% on a monthly basis in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 603,000 units, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. On an annual basis, new home sales declined 17.6%.

Existing home sales fell on a monthly basis but at a slower pace, declining 1.5% from the previous month and by 23.8% year over year, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Privately owned, single-unit housing starts dipped 4.7% from the prior month and by 18.5% on a yearly basis.

The housing market is still adjusting to ongoing interest rate hikes and rising mortgage rates, National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in an Oct. 20 press release. Expensive parts of the U.S. are witnessing larger drops in sales than more affordable regions and are “feeling the pinch,” Yun said.

“The current lack of supply underscores the vast contrast with the previous major market downturn from 2008 to 2010, when inventory levels were four times higher than they are today,” Yun said.

S&P Dow Jones Indices and S&P Global Market Intelligence are owned by S&P Global Inc.