Are Home Price Increases Finally Beginning To Slow?

If you're a potential home buyer with an eye on home prices, there's good news and bad news in the latest results of the S&P Case-Shiller Price Indices. On the one hand, home price increases may be finally slowing down. Year-over-year numbers show the rate at which prices increased was lower than the month before. This, combined with news that there are more homes being listed for sale, is an encouraging sign that affordability conditions may soon begin to turn in favor of buyers. On the other hand, however, prices are still up more than 6 percent over last year and the increases appear to be fairly consistent across the country. That means, home buyers in the Midwest will be just as likely to find rising home prices as buyers in California and on the West Coast – even if they aren't moving up as quickly. “Cities west of the Rocky Mountains continue to lead price increases with Seattle, Las Vegas, and San Francisco ranking 1-2-3 based on price movements in the trailing 12 months,” managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, David M. Blitzer, said. “The favorable economy and moderate mortgage rates both support recent gains in housing.” More here.