Home Prices Accelerate in September

Among the 20 cities with double-digit increases, San Francisco, California (11.2 percent), Denver, Colorado(10.9 percent), and Portland, OR (10.1 percent) had the highest year-over-year gains in home prices. But hold your panic!

"It is clear that prices are rising in most areas at above average rates due to the limited supply and strong demand the real estate market has seen all year", said Jonathan Smoke, the chief economist for realtor.com®. Phoenix had the longest streak of year-over-year increases, reporting a gain of 5.3% in September 2015 - the tenth consecutive increase in annual price gains.

Five other metros on the 20-city index had higher increases than South Florida.

Home prices in three cities declined on a monthly basis, with Chicago declining 0.4 percent and Cleveland and Washington declining 0.1 percent. After seasonal adjustment, the National Index posted a gain of 0.8%, while the 10-City and 20-City Composites both increased 0.6% month-over-month. He added that the New Jersey "economy has generally recovered more slowly".

On an unadjusted basis, home prices nationwide were up 0.2% compared with September. Year over year, the 10-city composite saw a gain of 5.0%, while the 20-city composite saw a gain of 4.7%. Prices rose 5.5% for the year, up from a 5.1% yearly gain in August.

Home prices in New Jersey have yet to rebound to mid-2006 levels, when the market reached its peak.

Dallas-area home prices are up more than 35 precent since 2012.

He said the an increase in the federal funds rate by the Federal Reserve would probably have only a minor impact on mortgage rates faced by consumers.

Chicago single-family house prices took a small step forward in September, according to figures released this morning, but prices rose slower here than in the rest of the country. That is partly because of slow growth in wages and salaries and partly because housing prices are rising.