U.S. house price index likely to have risen sequentially in December

The U.S. home prices data for the month of December is set to release tomorrow. According to a Barclays research report, the S&P case House Price Index is likely to have risen 0.3 percent sequentially in December, leading the year-on-year rate to drop to 4.3 percent.

The rate of home price appreciation decelerated throughout 2018, slowing from 6.3 percent in January to 4.7 percent in November. At the current level, the annual home price appreciation is still viewed as healthy, but modest.

“Recent softness in housing data including starts, sales and prices suggests the housing sector may be pulling back following the deterioration in home affordability and the rise in mortgage rates”, added Barclays.

At 1900 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was bearish at -78.9884 more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex