The US housing price index rose at an accelerated pace in December last year. The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to the Standard & Poor's CoreLogic Case Shiller housing price index, the US housing price index rose 5.5% year on year in December, up from 5% in November. The housing price index for the 20 major cities rose 6.13% year on year, and is expected to be 6%, compared to 5.4% in November. The housing price index for 20 major cities rose 0.21% month-on-month after seasonal adjustment, and is expected to be 0.2%, rising for the 11th month in a row.

Brian D. Luke, head of commodities, real estate and digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices, stated in a statement that adjusted home prices in December reached a record. “Looking back over the past year, 2023 seems to have surpassed the average annual housing price growth rate of the past 35 years. Considering the US trend growth rate of 4.7%, the 5.5% return showed solid and steady growth.”

By city, housing prices in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Detroit grew the fastest, rising 8.3% to 8.8%, respectively, over the same period last year. Housing prices grew the slowest in Portland (Oregon), Dallas, and Denver, with growth rates between 0.3% and 2.3%.

After seasonal adjustments, housing prices rose 0.2% in November and December, both across the US and in the 20-city index. Economists surveyed by FactSet expect the 20-city index to grow at a monthly rate of 0.15%.

This indicator lags behind other housing price indicators, but economists are concerned that it is because its methodology reduces the impact of housing size or type, and reports multiple indices, including unadjusted and seasonally adjusted data. More frequent but narrowly covered data allows investors to understand where housing prices are trending.

The median price of existing homes measured by the National Association of Realtors increased by 5.1% in January compared to the same period last year. Earlier reports said that Lawrence Yun, the industry association's chief economist, said that this is the first time in more than a year that housing price increases have exceeded wage increases.

Although sales prices of existing homes grew at the fastest rate since October 2022 in January, the industry group said last week that sales were still weak, with a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 4 million units below average.

High price growth combined with relatively low sales volume indicates that inventory of homes for sale is scarce. According to the industry group, by the end of January, it would take three months to sell each house. Ewen of the Association of Realtors said last week that the trend in housing prices this spring will depend on the supply situation.

The new home sales market shows the impact of increased supply on prices. According to Census data, sales increased in January, and the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate rose 1.5% to 661,000 units. At the rate of sales in January, it would take more than eight months to sell each new home. The median price of a new home in January was US$4207,000, down 2.6% from January 2023.

So far, the house prices tracked by Redfin have remained strong. The median sales price in metropolitan areas tracked by the brokerage firm was $365,000 in the four weeks ending February 18, up about 6% from the same period last year. According to the data, the asking price for newly listed homes on the market is just under $400,000.