Home price gains slowed in August

Home prices grew at a slower pace in August, which could make purchases more affordable and provide a boost to the housing market.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index on Tuesday showed a 5.6 percent annual increase in August, a drop from the 6.7 percent posted in July.

{mosads}During the housing market recovery, home price gains have slowed from double-digit growth levels.

The 10-City index gained 5.5 percent in the same period with prices rising nationally at a 5.1 percent pace down from 5.6 percent in July.

As of August, average home prices across the nation are back to their spring 2005 levels. 

For the city indexes, prices returned to fall 2004 levels.

“The deceleration in home prices continues,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P.

“Despite softer price data, other housing data perked up,” he said.

In September, housing starts, permits and sales of existing homes were all up.

“Continued labor market gains, low interest rates and slower increases in home prices should support further improvements in housing,” Blitzer said.

Miami unseated Las Vegas for the fastest yearly price growth with a 10.5 percent increase. They are the only two cities still showing double-digit annual price growth.

In Las Vegas, home prices rose at a 10.1 percent pace down from a 12.8 percent acceleration in July.

San Francisco posted a 9 percent annual increase in August, down from its double-digit return of 10.5 percent in July.

On a monthly basis, the national index and 10- and 20-city gauges showed a slight increase of 0.2 percent for August.

Detroit led all cities with the gain of 0.8 percent, followed by Dallas, Denver and Las Vegas at 0.5.

Gains in those cities were offset by a decline of 0.4 percent in San Francisco and a drop of 0.1 percent in Charlotte and San Diego.

All cities except Boston and Detroit posted lower monthly returns in August compared with July.

San Francisco showed its largest decline since February 2012 and it was the only city that showed a negative monthly return two months in a row.