Naturally, home prices are among the first things potential home buyers look at when deciding whether or not it’s time for them to make a move. After all, they are the easiest housing-market barometer to read. It requires no expertise, for example, to look up homes for sale in any area and get a feel for how expensive or affordable they are. So where are home prices today and where might they be headed? Well, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices – which is considered a leading measure of U.S. home prices – current home price trends are holding steady. The latest index shows national home prices up 3.2 percent over last year, which is about the same as they were the previous month. Overall, home price trends show increases have been slowing for a while now and there’s little expectation that they’ll change any time soon. “The U.S. National Home Price NSA Index trend remained intact with a year-over-year price change of 3.2 percent,” Philip Murphy, managing director and global head of index governance at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said. Regionally, southeastern cities saw the biggest increases, with Charlotte, Tampa, and Atlanta recording increases of 4-to-4.5 percent. San Francisco was the only city to show a year-over-year decline. More here.
