U.S. home prices barely budged in October, marking one of the smallest annual increases in more than a decade as higher borrowing costs continued to weigh on the market, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index. Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ FRED site show that growth in home prices has gradually slowed since March 2024.
In October, the index rose just 1.4% from a year earlier, down from 1.31% in September—levels not seen since 2012.
“October’s data show the housing market settling into a much slower gear,” Nicholas Godec of S&P Dow Jones Indices told The Wall Street Journal. He said 6% mortgage rates have dampened home-price growth, noting that the October figure represents roughly a third of the 5.1% average annual gain seen in 2024. After adjusting for inflation, real home values declined slightly over the past year.
Among the 20 major metro areas tracked, Chicago posted the biggest year-over-year price gain at 5.8%, followed by New York at 5% and Cleveland at 4.1%. Tampa stood out on the other end of the spectrum, with prices down 4.2% from a year earlier.
Despite the cooling pace, home prices remain far above pre-pandemic levels. Federal Reserve data shows the median U.S. sale price was $317,100 in the second quarter of 2020 and peaked at $442,600 in the fourth quarter of 2022—a 39.6% increase. By the second quarter of 2025, the median price had eased to $410,800. Yet, that's still 29.5% higher than before the pandemic.
A sharper correction may be difficult without price growth realigning more closely with household incomes. Yet such a shift could ripple across the multifamily housing sector, where many renters—priced out of homeownership—continue to sustain demand for apartments.
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