Even though U.S. housing prices remain high, Americans keep buying them, according to a pair of newly released reports.
On Dec. 31, S&P Global’s S&P Dow Jones Indices published its latest update of the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index. Home prices rose by about 3.6 percent between October 2023 and October 2024, according to a newly published analysis.
The index covers average home prices in 20 major U.S. cities. S&P calls it a leading measure of U.S. residential real estate prices. The index tracks changes in the value of residential real estate monthly.
According to a release from S&P, October’s price performance showed a slight deceleration from the previous annual price gains observed in 2024.
In a statement, Brian D. Luke, head of commodities, real, and digital assets at S&P Global, said the index cumulatively hit its 17th consecutive all-time high in October.
“With the latest data covering the period prior to the election, our national index has shown continued improvement,” Luke said. “Removing the political uncertainly risk has led to an equity market rally; it will be telling should the similar sentiment occur among homeowners.”
The S&P report was published one day after the National Association of Realtors (NAR) released its monthly report on pending home sales. The Dec. 30 NAR Pending Home Sales Index report said pending home sales rose by 2.2 percent from October to November 2024.
The NAR report said pending home sales rose by 6.9 percent between November 2023 and November 2024.
In a statement, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said the statistics indicate homebuyers may “have recalibrated expectations” about the prices and the mortgage rate they will pay. Yun said the average mortgage rate has hovered above 6 percent for the past two years.
“Buyers are no longer waiting for or expecting mortgage rates to fall substantially,” Yun said. “Furthermore, buyers are in a better position to negotiate as the market shifts away from a seller’s market.”
Representatives of S&P Global and the NAR did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.
On Dec. 18, the Federal Reserve cut the federal funds rate to a range of 4.25–4.50 percent. This was the third straight cut to the benchmark interest rate since the Fed began dialing back interest rates in September 2024.
In the same Dec. 18 announcement, the Federal Open Market Committee signaled it would not be as active in cutting rates in 2025 due to stubbornly high inflation.
