Meanwhile, the 20-city composite showed a year-over-year gain of 2.8 percent, a decline from a 3.4 percent increase in April. The 10-city composite experienced an annual growth rate of 3.4 percent, a decrease from 4.1 percent in April.
New York City reported the highest annual gain of the top 20 cities with a 7.4 percent advance in May, followed by Chicago at 6.1 percent higher, and Detroit with a 4.9 percent hike. Tampa, Florida, at the bottom of the list, posted a 2.4 percent decline in prices.
“May’s data continued the year’s slow unwind of price momentum, with annual gains narrowing for a fourth consecutive month,” Nicholas Godec, head of fixed-income tradables and commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices, stated in the report.
“National home prices were just 2.3 percent higher than a year ago, the smallest increase since July 2023, and nearly all of that gain occurred in the most recent six months.”
Other major cities reporting price gains include Cleveland at a 4.82 percent higher rate; Boston with a 4.64 percent increase; Washington with a 3.31 percent uptick; and Las Vegas with a growth of 3.3 percent.
Cities experiencing price growth at under 3 percent include Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Los Angeles; San Diego; Minneapolis; Miami; Phoenix; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle.
Dallas, Denver, and San Francisco all reported declines in home prices during May.
The report shows that the pre-seasonally adjusted U.S. National Home Price Index rose by 0.4 percent in May. Both the 10-city and 20-city composite indexes also recorded 0.4 percent gains. However, after seasonal adjustment, the national index posted a 0.3 percent decline, with both the 10-city and 20-city composites also falling by 0.3 percent.
“Monthly trends also signaled broad-based fatigue. All three headline indices rose just 0.4 percent on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the slowest monthly gain since January,” Godec said.
“After seasonal adjustment, each declined 0.3 percent, marking the third consecutive month of seasonally adjusted declines for the National Composite.”
Godec acknowledged that seasonal momentum is weaker and said he believes the slowdown is based on additional factors beyond the higher mortgage rates.
“It reflects a market recalibrating around tighter financial conditions, subdued transaction volumes, and increasingly local dynamics,” he said.
“With affordability still stretched and inventory constrained, national home prices are holding steady, but barely.”
