Home-Price Growth Slowed in November

U.S. home-price growth decelerated in November as months of fast-rising prices pushed some buyers out of the market.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, which measures average home prices in major metropolitan areas across the nation, rose 18.8% in the year that ended in November, down from a 19% annual rate the prior month.

Home sales rose to a 15-year high in 2021. Low interest rates spurred robust demand, and remote work enabled some workers to move farther from their offices and seek out more space to work from home. But intense competition for a limited number of homes on the market pushed home prices to record highs.

The median existing-home price in 2021 rose to a record $346,900, up 16.9% from 2020, the National Association of Realtors said earlier this month.

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Rising home prices have pushed some buyers out of the market. About 52% of prospective buyers were actively house hunting in the fourth quarter, down from 61% in the second quarter, according to a National Association of Home Builders survey.

“Home prices continued rising, but the pace of appreciation moderated as rising inflation and approaching winter holidays siphoned purchasing power from many home shoppers’ budgets,” said George Ratiu, manager of economic research at Realtor.com. News Corp, parent of The Wall Street Journal, operates Realtor.com.

Home-price growth is expected to slow further in 2022 as mortgage-interest rates have increased.

The Case-Shiller 10-city index gained 16.8% over the year ended in November, compared with an 17.2% increase in October. The 20-city index rose 18.3%, after an annual gain of 18.5% in October. Price growth accelerated in 11 of the 20 cities.

U.S. home prices hit an all-time high in 2021, but those increases are expected to slow in 2022 thanks to a number of economic factors. Here’s what’s driving the housing market and what that could mean for prospective buyers and sellers. Photo: George Frey/Bloomberg News

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected the 20-city index to gain 18%.

Phoenix had the fastest home-price growth in the country for the 30th straight month, at 32.2%, continuing its record streak in the top spot. Tampa posted the second-fastest growth, at 29%.

A separate measure of home-price growth by the Federal Housing Finance Agency also released Tuesday found a 17.5% increase in home prices in November from a year earlier.