Home Price Gains Moderate for Third Straight Month
Home prices experienced a third year-over-year deceleration in May, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index (HPI). On a year-over-year basis, the non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) index posted a 5.94% annual gain in May, down from a 6.39% increase in April. The index had seen steady increases in year-over-year growth since June 2023. But this growth rate began slowing in March 2024 and has continued to decelerate through May.
The HPI increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.09% for May, following a revised rate of 3.91% in April. May marks the 16th consecutive monthly increase; home prices have not seen an outright decrease since January 2023.
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Sales of newly built single-family homes declined 10.5% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 607,000, following a sharply upwardly revised June estimate, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The pace of new home sales was 6.3% lower than a year earlier.
The escalating U.S.-Canada trade dispute is a setback for residential construction. Talks between the two countries collapsed last Friday, and President Trump proceeded with his threat to impose 50% tariffs on about $20 billion in Canadian goods.
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Elevated borrowing costs, rising inflation and broad economic uncertainty continue to curb buyer demand and hold back new home sales.
According to NAHB analysis of quarterly Census data, the count of multifamily, for-rent housing starts increased year-over-year during the second quarter of 2026.
Material costs increased by 6.7% over the previous year, according to results from the survey for the July 2026 NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI).