U.S. home prices are still rising, ticking up at a faster rate in November than economists and analysts expected, according to a report last Tuesday.
The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite rose 5.8 percent year over year in November. That was above researched gauges for a 5.6-percent jump and more aggressive than the 5.5-percent expansion in October.
David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, discloses in a statement, "Home prices extended their gains, supported by continued low mortgage rates, tight supplies and an improving labor market."
S&P/Case Shiller reported that the largest price increase rates are found in Portland, Oregon, Denver and San Francisco.
"Sales of existing homes were up 6.5% in 2015 vs. 2014, and the number of homes on the market averaged about a 4.8 months' supply during the year; both numbers suggest a seller's market."
Case-Shiller data tend to slack median existing home prices, there will most likely be "hefty increases" for the following couple of months, as per Pantheon Macroeconomics' Ian Shepherdson.
Portland experienced the greatest ascent for the month, it increased up to 11.1 percent. Respectively, San Francisco and Denver followed only behind at 11 percent and 10.9 percent.
Zillow Chief Economist Svenja Gudell said Tuesday the housing market looks set to be as near to "normal" as it has been in some time.
However, 14 major cities set up price pick-ups in November over they did in the earlier month.
Gudell says, "Home value growth has largely stabilized at a sustainable level and the runaway appreciation that marked the last few years has passed, even as some markets remain much hotter than others."
She goes on and says that the slowdown in rental growth could give renters "breathing room" and potentially make it easier for them to transition to homeownership.
