The year-over-year pace of national home-price growth decelerated again in September, CoreLogic reported, citing its monthly Home Price Insights (HPI) report.
Specifically, prices rose 3.4% annually after growing by 3.9% in August. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.02% from August to September.
Looking ahead, the CoreLogic HPI Forecast predicts home prices will dip by 0.1% in October on a month-over-month basis but rise by 2.3% on an annual one.
Geographically, Miami once again posted the highest annual increase among the country’s 20 largest metro areas, at 6.8%, followed by Chicago at 6.7% and Las Vegas at 6.1%.
“Like much of the housing market at the moment, home prices remained relatively flat coming into the fall,” Chief Economist Selma Hepp said in a press release. “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 [are] full of questions, home prices are likely to maintain their leveled path until early next year when buyers return to the housing market.”