By David Pendered
Prices of homes sold in metro Atlanta rose by 5.4 percent during a 12-month period ending in June, according to the Case-Shiller index released Tuesday. The results help offset values lost in the ongoing stock market plunge.
Nationally, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showed an increase of 4.5 percent in the 12-month period ending in June. That’s an increase from the 4.4 percent increase the index showed for the 12-month period ending in May.
The growth rates for other cities in the south include:
- Charlotte – 5.2 percent;
- Dallas – 8.2 percent;
- Miami – 7.7 percent;
- Tampa – 5.4 percent.
The cities with the highest gains, among the 20 cities tracked by the index, are:
- Denver – 10.2 percent;
- San Francisco – 9.5 percent;
The price increase in Atlanta continues an upward trend that began in March 2012. At that time, the Case-Shiller price index for metro Atlanta was 82.54. That was the lowest level since August 1996, according to the index measures the average change in value of residential real estate in Atlanta given a constant level of quality, according to its website.
That said, the Case-Shiller report noted that, as of June 2015, average home prices in the index have risen to their levels in winter 2005. Furthermore, “Measured from their June/July 2006 peaks, the peak-to-current decline for both [10-city and 20-city composites] is approximately 12 to 14 percent. Since the March 2012 lows, the 10-city and 20-city composites have recovered 33.8 percent and 34.9 percent.”
Metro Atlanta is located in the 20-county index.
The analysis of the index noted that home prices continue to outperform inflation, rising at 4 percent to 5 percent while hovers below 2 percent.
The analysis also notes that a stock market correction isn’t likely to affect the housing market, until the correction reaches more than 20 percent.
This is the complete analysis, provided by David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices:
- “Nationally, home prices continue to rise at a 4 to 5 percent annual rate, two to three times the rate of inflation.
- “While prices in San Francisco and Denver are rising far faster than those in Washington DC, New York, or Cleveland, the city-to-city price patterns are little changed in the last year. Washington saw the smallest year-over-year gains in five of the last six months; San Francisco and Denver ranked either first or second of all cities in the last five months.
- “The price gains have been consistent as the unemployment rate declined with steady inflation and an unchanged Fed policy.
