Annual Home Price Slowdown Continues, Says Report

CoreLogic, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released the CoreLogic Home Price Index and HPI Forecast for September 2024.

U.S. home price growth continued to cool, slowing to a 3.4% year-over-year in September. Compared to with the month prior, home prices rebounded to post a very slight uptick (0.02%) following months of modest monthly declines. Taken together, home price levels have been relatively flat since late summer. Besides the uncertainty regarding the U.S. election and mortgage rate volatility, the mixed signals around the current state of the U.S. economy may be dampening demand and price appreciation. According to the latest numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy added just 12,000 jobs in October 2024, the fewest in almost four years. On the other hand, the most recent consumer spending data showed solid continued spending and an upbeat consumer outlook.

“Like much of the housing market at the moment, home prices remained relatively flat coming into the fall,” said CoreLogic Chief Economist Selma Hepp. “Despite some improved affordability from lower mortgage rates during August, homebuyers mostly kept on the sidelines and decided to wait out the mortgage rate drop for a potentially better opportunity next year, when the current volatility, uncertainty surrounding the election’s outcome, and the impact on longer-term rates may be slightly clearer. And while the mortgage rate and economic outlook is full of questions, home prices are likely to maintain their leveled path until early next year when buyers return to the housing market.”

Top Takeaways:

• U.S. single-family home prices (including distressed sales) increased by 3.4% year over year in September 2024 compared with September 2023. On a month-over-month basis, home prices increased by 0.02% compared with August 2024.
• In September, the annual appreciation of detached properties (3.6%) was 1.5 percentage points higher than that of attached properties (2.1%).
• CoreLogic’s forecast shows annual U.S. home price gains relaxing to 2.3% in September 2025.
• Miami posted the highest year-over-year home price increase of the country’s 10 highlighted metro areas in September, at 6.8%. Chicago saw the next-highest gain at 6.7%.
• Among states, Rhode Island ranked first for annual appreciation in September (up by 9%), followed by New Jersey (up by 8.6%). Hawaii was the only state to record a year-over-year home price loss (-0.4%).