Home price growth sinks to lowest level since 2012

The housing market continued to show signs of a major slowdown, and through April, it had recorded 13 consecutive months of slowing home-price gains.

Property values in 20 major U.S. cities increased 2.5 percent from a year ago, according to data from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller, Bloomberg reported. That’s down from 2.6 percent in March, and reflects the slowest pace since 2012.

Most cities showed year-over-year gains, however. In Las Vegas, for example, home prices grew at 7.1 percent. Nationally, home price growth decelerated at 3.5 percent.

The slowdown was most pronounced in wealthy California cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. There, gains circled below 2 percent.

The news comes at a time when mortgage rates are dropping and inventory is piling up. It’s not all bad news though: home sales in May topped estimates. A report from the National Association of Realtors revealed about 5.34 million contracts closed last month, reflecting a three-month high.

Prices in 14 out of the 20 cities remained largely unchanged in April. Only two cities, Washington D.C. and Seattle, saw prices drop. [Bloomberg] — Natalie Hoberman