S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) announced on Tuesday its
Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which tracks home prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan
areas, demonstrated an 18.6 percent y-o-y jump in December last year, following
an unrevised 18.3 percent y-o-y climb in November. This marked the first acceleration in annual
house price growth since July.
Economists had forecast a surge of 18.0 percent y-o-y.
Phoenix (+32.5 percent y-o-y), Tampa (+29.4 percent y-o-y), and Miami (+27.3
percent y-o-y) registered the largest y-o-y advances among the 20 cities in December.
Overall, 15 of the 20 cities saw greater price gains in the year ending December
compared to the year ending November.
Meanwhile, the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index,
which measures all nine U.S. census divisions, surged 18.8 percent y-o-y in December,
the same pace as in the previous month.
For the whole 2021 year, the National Composite Index rose 18.8 percent
and the 20-City Composite went up 18.6 percent, with both measures registering record
gains in 34 years of data.