Home prices in the Charlotte metro area continued to improve through August, according to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index.
Local home prices rose 2.8 percent in August from the same time last year, the latest S&P/Case-Shiller report says. The index shows a slight monthly increase -- 0.6 percent -- when comparing August to July.
It’s the latest confirmation of continued progress for residential housing in the Charlotte region. Local home prices rose 2.2 percent in July, a heartier increase compared to the 0.8 percent rise reported for June in year-over-year comparisons.
S&P’s monthly index tracks 20 metro areas as well as composites of the top 10 and top 20 markets. The composite of the top 10 cities reported a 1.3 percent increase for the year ending in August while the top-20 composite rose 2 percent. Average home prices rose 0.9 percent for both composites for the month.
This is the fifth time in a row both composites showed monthly gains.
“The sustained good news in home prices over the past five months makes us optimistic for continued recovery in the housing market,” stated David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Indices, in the report. “Single-family housing starts are 43 percent ahead of last year’s pace, existing and new home sales are also up, the inventory of homes for sale continues to drop and consumer mortgage default rates are reaching new lows,” Blizter added.
Phoenix boasted the most impressive gains with an annual increase in home prices of 18.8 percent for the year ending in August. This is the fourth consecutive month that Phoenix posted double-digit annual gains.
