US home prices continued to rise in August, though at the slowest pace since the beginning of 2024.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine US census divisions, posted a 4.2% annual gain in August, down from 4.8% annual growth in the preceding month.

The 10-City Composite increased 6.0% year over year in August, a deceleration from the 6.8% annual gain in the previous month. The 20-City Composite was up 5.2% year over year, down from a 5.9% year-over-year gain in July.

House price growth in the country is starting to show "signs of strain" as it reported the slowest year-over-year gain since the mortgage rates peaked in 2023, wrote Brian Luke, head of commodities, real and digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in an Oct. 29 release.

"As students went back to school, home price shoppers appeared less willing to push the index higher than in the summer months. Prices continue to decelerate for the past six months, pushing appreciation rates below their long-run average of 4.8%," Luke said.

On a monthly basis, the US National Index rose 0.3% in August after seasonal adjustment, up from 0.1% in July. The 20-City and 10-City Composite reported a monthly change of 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively.

New York remains the city with the highest annual home price gain of 8.1%, followed by Las Vegas with a price increase of 7.3% and Chicago at 7.2%.

Denver recorded the smallest year-over-year growth, notching a 0.7% annual increase in August.

– Set email alerts for future Data Dispatch articles. – Read some of the day's top real estate news and insights from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Mortgage rates up in October

The average US 30-year fixed-conforming mortgage rate stood at 6.57% on Oct. 28, up 17 basis points from 6.40% on Oct. 1.

The average US 15-year fixed-conforming mortgage rate rose 18 basis points to 5.98% on Oct. 28 from 5.80% on Oct. 1.

Existing home sales down, new home sales up

Existing home sales nationwide declined on a sequential and yearly basis in September, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Existing home sales fell 1.0% month over month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.84 million units in September, while sales dropped 3.5% year over year.

On a monthly and yearly basis, three of four US regions logged declines in existing home sales, with the Northeast posting the biggest declines of 4.2% month over month and 6.1% year over year. In contrast, the West registered both month-over-month and year-over-year hikes in existing home sales at 4.1% and 5.6%, respectively.

"Home sales have been essentially stuck at around a four-million-unit pace for the past 12 months, but factors usually associated with higher home sales are developing," Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, said in an Oct. 23 release. "There are more inventory choices for consumers, lower mortgage rates than a year ago and continued job additions to the economy. Perhaps, some consumers are hesitating about moving forward with a major expenditure like purchasing a home before the upcoming election."

New home sales rose 4.1% month over month and 6.3% year over year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 738,000 units from the revised August rate of 709,000 units, according to data from the US Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Midwest had a 2.5% monthly drop in new home sales and was the only region with a monthly decrease. In contrast, the region logged a 14.9% year-over-year hike in sales.

Meanwhile, the Northeast and the West logged yearly declines in home sales at 22.2% and 10.9%, respectively.

Among the four regions, only the South saw improvements in monthly and yearly home sales in September, at 5.8% and 14.7%, respectively.

Top mortgage lender

Pontiac, Michigan-based UWM Holdings Corp. was the top US residential mortgage lender, with $49.74 billion in mortgages originated in the year through July, a 6.2% increase year over year, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

Total residential mortgages originated year to date as of July stood at $1.214 trillion, up 1.0% year over year.