Annual growth in home prices in major U.S. metropolitan areas accelerated by more than expected in the month of February, according to a report released by Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday.
The report said the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index jumped 5.0 percent year-over-year in February compared to a downwardly revised 4.5 percent increase in January.
Economists had expected the annual rate of growth to accelerate to 4.7 percent from the 4.6 percent originally reported for the previous month.
S&P said Denver and San Francisco reported the highest year-over-year gains, as prices increased by 10.0 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively.
The report also said the index increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent on a monthly basis in February, matching the increase seen in January. Economists had expected a 0.7 percent increase.
On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the 20-City Composite Home Price Index rose by 0.5 percent in February after edging down by 0.1 percent in the previous month.
S&P said the non-seasonally adjusted increase by the index reflected the strongest price growth since July of 2014. The index had been expected to inch up by 0.2 percent.
David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said, “While prices are certainly rebounding, only two cities – Denver and Dallas – have surpassed their housing boom peaks.”
“Nationally, prices are almost 10% below the high set in July 2006,” he added. “If a complete recovery means new highs all around, we’re not there yet.”
Wednesday morning, the National Association of Realtors is scheduled to release a separate report on pending home sales in the month of March.
Economists expect pending home sales to climb by another 1.2 percent after jumping to their highest level in almost two years in February.
A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com