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U.S. home prices rise strongly in February, likely to continue rising at steady pace this year

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index for U.S. was up in February. The index was up 0.7 percent on a sequential basis, consistent with consensus projections. This is the fourth straight month of solid home price rise. All the 20 cities included in the report recorded increases in home prices, hinting at strong momentum.

The annual pace of rise in price accelerated to 5.9 percent, in line with the performance of the series I the last few years. The data released today strengthens the opinion of a stable pace of home price rise in 2017, noted Barclays in a research report.

The FHFA purchase-only House Price Index also came in stronger than anticipated in February. It rose 0.8 percent, as compared with consensus expectations of a rise of 0.4 percent. On a region wise basis, the scenario was buoyant with prices appreciating in eight of the nine regions. S. Atlantic was the only region to record a moderate fall. The year-on-year growth was up 6.4 percent.

The above expectations reading suggests that the report continues to be in line with trends in other home price indices, which indicate annual home price appreciation in the range of 5 percent to 6 percent since 2015.

“We expect home prices to continue appreciating at a steady pace going into 2017”, added Barclays.

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