U.S. Home Prices Show Steady Gains in December 2024

S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) announced the latest results for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, revealing a 3.9% annual gain in U.S. home prices for December 2024. This marks a slight uptick from the previous month’s 3.7% annual increase, indicating a consistent upward trend in the housing market.*

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, which encompasses all nine U.S. census divisions, has demonstrated robust performance with the 10-City Composite rising 5.1% year-over-year, a modest increase from 5% in November. The 20-City Composite also reported a positive trend with a 4.5% increase, up from 4.3% the previous month.

Among the 20 cities tracked, New York led the way with a significant 7.2% annual increase in home prices, followed by notable gains in Chicago and Boston, which saw increases of 6.6% and 6.3%, respectively. In contrast, Tampa faced a downturn, registering the lowest return with a decline of 1.1%.

On a monthly basis, the pre-seasonally adjusted U.S. National and 20-City Composite Indices both experienced a slight drop of 0.1%. The 10-City Composite Index also recorded a minimal decrease of 0.04%. However, after seasonal adjustments, all three indices revealed a month-over-month increase of 0.5%, showcasing resilience in the housing market.

Brian D. Luke, CFA, and Head of Commodities, Real & Digital Assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices, attributed the dynamics in the housing market to changes in work and living arrangements post-COVID-19. “It has been five years since the Covid-19 outbreak took hold of the global economy,” Luke noted. “National home prices have risen by 8.8% annually since 2020, driven primarily by markets in Florida, North Carolina, Southern California, and Arizona.”

Despite the overall positive trend, Luke pointed out that home price appreciation has cooled compared to the peak increase of 18.9% seen in 2021. The second half of 2024 proved challenging for certain markets, particularly in the West, where San Francisco recorded a significant decline of 4.5% in prices over the last six months of the year, further exacerbated by a 3.0% drop in Seattle.

“San Francisco is now 11.0% lower than its post-pandemic peak reached in May 2022,” Luke added. Other previously strong markets like San Diego and Tampa also saw declines of 2.9% and 2.7%, respectively, during the same period.

Despite the struggles of some cities, the Northeast region led the country in growth, with New York showcasing a continued robust performance. Boston reached an all-time high in home prices, standing out as the only market to do so for the period ending December 2024.

“The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index continues to highlight the upward trend of home prices nationally,” Luke concluded, emphasizing the long-term benefits of investing in the housing market. “The ability of Americans to grow wealth by participating in the upside of the U.S. housing market, especially through leveraging a mortgage, has historically proven beneficial.”

As the housing market continues to evolve, these insights reflect the ongoing trends influencing home prices across the nation, shaping the future of real estate investment.

Supporting Data

Table 1 below shows the housing boom/bust peaks and troughs for the three composites along with the current levels and percentage changes from the peaks and troughs.

Table 2 below summarizes the results for December 2024. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices could be revised for the prior 24 months, based on the receipt of additional source data.

Table 3 below shows a summary of the monthly changes using the seasonally adjusted (SA) and non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) data. Since its launch in early 2006, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices have published, and the markets have followed and reported on, the non-seasonally adjusted data set used in the headline indices. For analytical purposes, S&P Dow Jones Indices publishes a seasonally adjusted data set covered in the headline indices, as well as for the 17 of 20 markets with tiered price indices and the five condo markets that are tracked.