The housing market just keeps getting more expensive

• The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index gained 1% compared to a year ago in July. 
• Compared to the prior month, the indexed moved 0.6% higher on a seasonally adjusted basis.
• "The increase in prices that began in January has now erased the earlier decline."

The housing market just keeps getting more expensive for Americans. 

S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices data out Tuesday showed US home prices increased 1% in July compared to a year ago. 

The index, which covers all nine US census divisions and measures repeat-sales data, increased 0.6% in July on a seasonally adjusted basis.

"US home prices continued to rally in July 2023," according to Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P DJI. "We have previously noted that home prices peaked in June 2022 and fell through January of 2023, declining by 5.0% in those seven months. The increase in prices that began in January has now erased the earlier decline, so that July represents a new all-time high for the National Composite."  

Mortgage rates well above 7% have weighed on homebuyer affordability, and home prices haven't fallen as they typically do when interest rates climb. At the same time, a persistent home inventory shortage has also kept the market and prices tight. 

At 4.4%, Chicago saw the steepest annual price growth out of the cities measured in the data. Cleveland came in second, at 4.0%, whereas Las Vegas home prices declined 7.2% compared to the year prior.    

"[T]his recovery in home prices is broadly based," Lazzara said. "As was the case last month, 10 of the 20 cities in our sample have reached all-time high levels. In July, prices rose in all 20 cities after seasonal adjustment (and in 19 of them before adjustment)."

Year-to-date, the National Composite has climbed 5.3%, which is above the median full-calendar year increase seen in more than three decades of data.

Meanwhile, separate new home sales data released by the Census Bureau Tuesday showed that sales for new single-family houses in August were at a seasonally adjusted, annual rate of 675,000. That's 8.7% below the revised July reading of 739,000, yet 5.8% above the August 2022 estimate of 638,000.

The National Association of Realtors reported that the median existing-home sale price climbed 3.9% last month compared to August 2022, to $407,100.