by Calculated Risk on 6/24/2014 09:00:00 AM

S&P/Case-Shiller released the monthly Home Price Indices for April ("April" is a 3 month average of February, March and April prices).

This release includes prices for 20 individual cities, and two composite indices (for 10 cities and 20 cities).

Note: Case-Shiller reports Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA), I use the SA data for the graphs.

From S&P: Rate of Home Price Gains Drop Sharply, According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices

Data through April 2014, released today by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller1 Home Price Indices ... show that the 10-City and 20-City Composites posted annual gains of 10.8%. This is a significantly lower rate when compared to last month. Nineteen of the 20 cities saw lower annual gains in April than in March.

The 10-City and 20-City Composites increased 1.0% and 1.1% in April. Seven cities – Cleveland, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco – reported lower returns than in March. ...

“Although home prices rose in April, the annual gains weakened,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Overall, prices are rising month-to-month but at a slower rate. Last year some Sunbelt cities were seeing year-over-year numbers close to 30%, now all are below 20%: Las Vegas (18.8%), Los Angeles (14.0%), Phoenix (9.8%), San Diego (15.3%) and San Francisco (18.2%). Other cities around the nation are also experiencing slower price increases."
...
In April, all cities saw prices increase with twelve cities reporting higher returns than last month. Boston gained the most with an increase of 2.9%, its highest month-over-month gain. San Francisco and Seattle trailed at +2.3%. At the bottom of the list, New York gained only 0.1%. Dallas and Denver continue to set new peaks while Detroit remains the only city below its January 2000 value.

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows the nominal seasonally adjusted Composite 10 and Composite 20 indices (the Composite 20 was started in January 2000).

The Composite 10 index is off 17.8% from the peak, and unchanged in April (SA). The Composite 10 is up 24.4% from the post bubble low set in Jan 2012 (SA).

The Composite 20 index is off 16.9% from the peak, and up 0.2% (SA) in April. The Composite 20 is up 25.2% from the post-bubble low set in Jan 2012 (SA).

The second graph shows the Year over year change in both indices.

The Composite 10 SA is up 10.8% compared to April 2013.

The Composite 20 SA is up 10.8% compared to April 2013.

Prices increased (SA) in 15 of the 20 Case-Shiller cities in April seasonally adjusted.  (Prices increased in 20 of the 20 cities NSA) Prices in Las Vegas are off 43.6% from the peak, and prices in Denver and Dallas are at new highs (SA).

This was lower than the consensus forecast for a 11.4% YoY increase and suggests a slowdown in price increases. I'll have more on house prices later.