Mark Payne
According to the Seattle Times, home prices in the Seattle area rose compared to last year for the second month in a row, but only by 1.7%, which could be good news in this perennially red hot market. The data comes from the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Prices Index. which shows the city still beating an index of the top ten markets which showed year-over year price gain of 1.5% in September. Within that group, Seattle beat New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
Month over month, home prices around Seattle fell by 0.3% in September, according to the index, which lags by two months. Nationally, S&P Managing Director Craig Lazzara said in a statement, he saw “reassuring” trends after a long period of decelerating gains in home prices.
When adjusted for season, national home prices in September were rising 0.4% month-over-month — faster than they were in August.“It is, of course, too soon to say whether this month marks an end to the deceleration or is merely a pause in the longer-term trend,” he said. Among the nation’s top 20 housing markets, only one — San Francisco — saw a year-over-year price decline in September.
For the fourth month in a row, Phoenix saw the fastest year-over-year price increases, at 6%. Elsewhere, cities in the southeast, including Charlotte, Tampa and Atlanta, also saw price growth of more than 4%.
