Price Gains Shift Away from Coasts; Pending Sales Climb; Rates Expected to Hold

Price Gains Shift Away from Coasts; Pending Sales Climb; Rates Expected to Hold

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices for February continue to show a slowdown in home price gains on a year-over-year basis although all of the monthly changes were higher than in January. The U.S. National Home Price Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 4.0% annual gain in February, down from 4.2% in the previous month. The index was up 0.2 percent in February before seasonal (NSA) adjustment and 0.3 percent afterward (SA). The prior month prices were up 0.2 percent seasonally adjusted but lost 0.2 percent on an NSA basis. On the 10-City Composite the annual appreciation rate was 2.6%, down from 3.1% in January. The 20-City Composite annual rate was 3.0 percent compared to 3.5 percent the previous month. Both composites were up 0.2 percent both SA and NSA while