Home prices have fallen 2.2% since peaking in June, but the cooling off of the real estate market hasn’t been even across the country, a map of price changes shows.
Home prices fell 1% in September, marking the third month in a row of declines according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index Tuesday. While prices were still up 10.6% over the last 12 months, they fell significantly from their June peak in certain cities, as the map below shows.
Prices, which had surged during the pandemic, have declined recently as mortgage rates have spiked. The average rate offered for a 30-year mortgage topped 7% early in November, hitting its highest in two decades, according to data from Freddie Mac. And while that rate has since fallen to 6.58%, it’s still more than double the 3.11% average before the year started. Those higher mortgage rates have made monthly payments skyrocket, putting homeownership out of reach for many buyers and damaging the overall market.
“The U.S. housing market is buckling under the weight of higher mortgage payments and low housing affordability,” Matthew Walsh, an associate economist at Moody’s Analytics, wrote in a commentary.
