Home prices are rising, but the gains are shrinking, since fewer buyers are able to afford the homes available for sale.
Nationally, prices rose 4.3 percent annually in January, down from the 4.6 percent gain in December, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller price index. The 10-city composite rose 3.2 percent, down from 3.7 percent in the previous month. The 20-city composite gained 3.6 percent year over year, down from 4.1 percent in December.
"The last time it advanced this slowly was April 2015. In 16 of the 20 cities tracked, price gains were smaller in January 2019 than in January 2018," said David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "Only Phoenix saw any appreciable acceleration. Some cities where prices surged in 2017-2018 now face much smaller increases."
