The pace of United States home-price growth gained steam in June as the years-long trend of a geographic divide in price performance continued unabated: The Northeast and Midwest remained strong, while the Sunbelt and West softened. 

Case in point, Chicago remained top dog when it came to home-price appreciation, with a 6.9% annualized acceleration in price growth, according to the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index. The Windy City had the second-highest growth rate on a monthly basis after New York with a 0.95% gain. 

Nationally, the pace of price increases rose 1.5% year over year in June, up from a 1.2% annual gain in May. Month over month, the index rose 0.4%.  

S&P Dow Jones noted that while inflation continued to outpace national home-price appreciation in June, thereby nullifying the effect of home-price growth, it did cool somewhat, coming in at 3.5% in June compared to 4.2% in May. 

“Homeowners and renters alike breathed a sigh of relief in June as inflation cooled to 3.5%,” said Rebecca Kaufman, associate director of commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “While home prices continue to decline in real terms, lower inflation and firmer nominal home-price growth in June helped slow that pace of erosion.” 

“June’s numbers show a housing market that is finding its footing, though progress remains slow,” Cotality Principal Economist Thomas Malone said separately. “While the 0.4% monthly increase was positive, it was only half the typical pre-pandemic June gain. Annual appreciation accelerated across most major metros, suggesting the market is moving in the right direction despite an uneven recovery.”