- Jen Wilson
- Associate Editor/Online-Charlotte Business Journal
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Bucking a nationwide trend of diminishing gains in home prices, Charlotte was one of only two cities tracked by a prominent monthly index to post larger annual gains in September than in August.
Home prices in the Charlotte metro were up 3.3 percent in September from a year earlier, according to the latest Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Home Price Index. That follows a 2.5 percent rise for the year ended in August, but still falls short of the 3.6 percent year-over-year gain reported in July.
Of the 20 major U.S. metros tracked by the Case-Shiller index, Dallas was the only other city to see an acceleration in home-price increases in September.
On a month-to-month basis, the Charlotte market posted an increase of 0.6 percent in September, swinging from a slight decline of 0.1 percent in August from July's levels. The local market also stood out by that measure, joining Miami in having the strongest monthly gains among the cities tracked.
"The overall trend in home price increases continues to slow down," David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in the report released Tuesday. "The National Index reported a month-over-month decrease for the first time since November 2013. ... The only region showing any sustained strength is the Southeast led by Florida; price gains are also evident in Atlanta and Charlotte."
The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index logged a yearly gain of 4.8 percent in September, compared with a 5.1 percent annual gain in August. And on a monthly basis, the national index posted a decline of 0.1 percent in September.
The index also tracks composites of the nation's top 10 and top 20 markets, with the latest report showing year-over-year increases of 4.8 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively. Both composites were flat in September from the previous month.
However, Bitzer points to other measures as evidence that things are looking up for next year: "Other housing statistics paint a mixed to slightly positive picture," he said in the report. "Housing starts held above 1 million at annual rates on gains in single-family homes, sales of existing homes are gaining, builders' sentiment is improving, foreclosures continue to be worked off and mortgage default rates are at pre-crisis levels. With the economy looking better than a year ago, the housing outlook for 2015 is stable to slightly better."
As of September, nationwide home prices were on par with fall 2004 levels, according to the Case-Shiller report.
