By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- The U.S. housing market was firmly on a downward path by the end of summer, as selling prices fell for a third straight month in September, according to new data out on Tuesday.
S&P said its index of prices from 20 major metropolitan markets across the company fell another 1.5% in September, after having fallen 1.6% in August and 0.8% in July. August's drop was the biggest monthly fall in prices since the Great Financial Crisis in 2008, caused by the implosion of the subprime credit bubble.
In year-on-year terms, the rise in prices slowed to 10.4%, its lowest since the end of 2020, as the Federal Reserve's sequence of interest rate hikes has sharply reduced the amount of debt that most families can take on to finance a home purchase. Only five months ago, prices were still rising at an annual pace of over 20%.
The price index compiled by the Federal Housing Finance Agency also reinforced the pattern of a market fast adjusting to tighter financing conditions, saying its measure of single-family home prices rose 11% on the year through September, down from 12.0% in August. In one-third of states and metropolitan markets, prices are now rising at a rate of less than 10% a year.
However, the FHFA reported a modest 0.1% rise in prices from August's levels.
According to the FHFA, house prices have risen in year-on-year terms each quarter since 2012.
Other data released on Tuesday indicated that high inflation continues to take its toll on consumer sentiment: the Conference Board's index of consumer confidence fell to 100.2 from 102.2 in October. However. the decline was less steep than expected, and leaves the index still some way above its July low of 95.3.