U.S. home prices rise in August, stable momentum to continue this year and in next

In August, U.S. home prices, gauged by the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index and the FHFA purchase-only House Price Index, rose from the previous month. Prices gauged by the former rose 0.2 percent sequentially in the month, taking the annual pace of rise to 5.2 percent.

Throughout cities, the picture came in mixed.
Miami, San Francisco, Seattle and LA registered strong increases of 0.4 to 0.6 percent in sequential terms. On the other hand, other cities such as New York, Atlanta and Chicago registered slightly negative to zero price gains.

In the meantime, the FHFA purchase-only House Price Index was up 0.7 percent month-on-month in August, surpassing the consensus expectations of 0.5 percent sequential rise. On a year-on-year basis, the index rose 6.4 percent, as compared with July’s gain of 5.9 percent. Region wise, the biggest gains were recorded in East S. Central, South Atlantic and New England.

In all, the home price data is in line with moderate rebound in the housing market, where appreciation of home price has steadied at around 5 percent to 6 percent year-on-year in recent years. This steady momentum in house prices is likely to continue throughout 2016 and in the next year, said Barclays in a research note.