Home Price Index Continues To Rise, Though Only at 3.3% in New York City

According to the latest results for the S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, home prices continued to rise across the country during the last 12 months. The Index, which covers all nine U.S. census divisions, showed a 5.4% annual increase in December 2015 as compared to a 5.2% increase in November 2015.
The 20-City Composite, which measures the value of residential real estate in 20 major U.S. metropolitan areas, recorded a year-over-year gain of 5.7% in December 2015. Portland, San Francisco and Denver reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities measured, at 11.4%, 10.3% and 10.2%, respectively. In comparison to those increases, New York City saw a year-over-year gain of 3.3%, among the lowest of the 20 cities measured in the index. In total, thirteen cities reported greater home price increases in the year ending December 2015 versus the year ending November 2015.
The general takeaway from these indices is that while home prices have continued to rise, the pace has slowed. Nonetheless, home prices in all but one city measured by the 20-City Composite are rising faster than the rate of inflation.