Dive Brief:
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Home prices nationwide climbed 4.6% in the 12 months ending in December, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which was released on Tuesday.
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That number is down slightly from 4.7% in November. It represents the slowest 12-month gain since 2011, when home prices were still in decline, the index showed.
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Still, prices in Los Angeles grew 5.5% year over year; San Francisco saw 9.3% growth; and some Western and Southern markets also enjoyed larger price spikes than metros in the Midwest and Northeast, the index showed.
Dive Insight:
Weak demand for housing and the tight inventory of for-sale homes is putting upward pressure on home prices, which continue to rise, albeit at a slower pace. Some economists say that’s a more natural and normal condition than the boom-and-bust cycles of the past few years.
But David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones, which publishes the price index, called the numbers “soft" and said "the housing recovery is faltering,” even as job growth strengthens, unemployment declines, interest rates remain low, and consumer confidence grows.