The U.S. single family housing market hit an all-time high for the second consecutive month in October according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index – but New York City is the gloomy exception.
Single-family home prices in the Big Apple rose by a mere 1.7 percent between October 2015 and October 2016 – well below the national average growth rate of 5.6 percent and by far the slowest growth among the 20 largest metropolitan areas measured by the index.
The index doesn’t include new construction, condominiums or co-ops, meaning it only captures a slice of the New York City residential market.
Seattle led the country with a 10.7-percent price growth, followed by Portland (10.3 percent) and Denver (8.3 percent). Miami (6.5 percent), Los Angeles (5.7 percent) and San Francisco (5.5 percent) also saw strong growth. Washington, D.C. saw prices rise by just 3.4 percent – only New York grew slower.
Despite the rising prices, David Blitzer of S&P Dow Jones Indices urged caution in a statement. He pointed to weak income growth and rising mortgage rates as factors that could weigh on the housing market, arguing that “home prices cannot rise faster than incomes and inflation indefinitely.” — Konrad Putzier