US home prices reached a new high in April, though the pace of increase slowed from the previous month.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine US census divisions, registered a 6.3% annual gain in April, down from 6.5% annual growth in the preceding month.

The 10-City Composite climbed 8.0% year over year, down from an 8.3% annual increase in March. The 20-City Composite rose 7.2% year over year, compared to a 7.5% annual gain in the previous month.

"2024 is closely tracking the strong start observed last year, where March and April posted the largest rise seen prior to a slowdown in the summer and fall," said Brian Luke, head of commodities, real and digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a June 25 release. "Heading into summer, the market is at an all-time high, once again testing its resilience against the historically more active time of the year."

With a 10.3% increase in April, San Diego remained atop 20 cities in the index with the highest annual price gain. The city posted an 11.1% annual gain in March.

San Diego was followed by New York and Chicago, with increases of 9.4% and 8.7%, respectively.

On a month-over-month basis, the US National Index and 10-City Composite reported 0.3% and 0.5% growth, respectively, after seasonal adjustment. The 20-City Composite logged a month-over-month increase of 0.4%.

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Mortgage rates decline in June

US mortgage rates increased briefly before continuing their decline in the latter half of June.

On June 25, the average US 15-year fixed-conforming mortgage rate stood at 6.46%, down 5 basis points from 6.51% on June 3.

The average US 30-year fixed-conforming mortgage rate fell 8 basis points to 6.96% on June 25 from 7.04% on June 3.

Home sales fall in May

Elevated mortgage rates and higher home prices continued to depress home sales in May.

Existing home sales nationwide slid 0.7% month over month and were down 2.8% year over year in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.11 million units, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Existing home sales fell month over month in the South while remaining unchanged in the Northeast, Midwest and West. In the South, existing home sales fell 1.6% month over month and 5.1% year over year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.87 million units.

Total housing inventory registered at the end of May was 1.28 million units, up 6.7% from April and 18.5% from the year-ago period.

"Home prices reaching new highs are creating a wider divide between those owning properties and those who wish to be first-time buyers," Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, said in a June 21 release. "Eventually, more inventory will help boost home sales and tame home price gains in the upcoming months."

New home sales across the US fell 11.3% month over month and 16.5% year over year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 619,000 units, according to data from the US Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

All four US regions logged a month-over-month decrease in new home sales in May. The Northeast region logged the highest year-over-year and month-over-month declines in new home sales, at 43.8%.

The Midwest was the only region to log a year-over-year gain in existing home sales and new home sales in May.

Top mortgage lender

Pontiac, Mich.-based UWM Holdings Corp. was the top US residential mortgage lender with $18.90 billion in mortgages originated in the year through March, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

Total residential mortgages originated so far this year stood at $440.32 billion as of March 31, down 1.5% year over year.