U.S. Home Price Growth Kept Climbing in August

By Dean Seal

U.S. home price growth climbed again in August, led by major metropolitan areas including Chicago and New York.

The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, which measures home prices across the country, rose 2.1% in the 12 months through August, compared with a 1.9% increase in July.

For the 15th consecutive month, U.S. home values fell in real terms, as August's 3.4% inflation ran roughly 1.3 percentage points above the 2.1% home price gain, the survey said.

That said, the gap narrowed as nominal home price growth strengthened, according to Rebecca Kaufman, associate director of commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

"Affordability, however, remains challenging," Kaufman said. "With inflation at 3.4%, Brent crude near $100 per barrel and mortgage rates in the mid-to-high 6% range, households continue to face elevated costs alongside persistently high home prices."

For the sixth month in a row, Chicago reported the highest annual gain among the 20 cities, with a 6.7% increase in August. New York and Cleveland followed closely behind, like they did last month, with annual increases of 6.2% and 4.3%, respectively. Seattle posted the largest annual decline for the third month in a row, falling 2%.

Cotality continues to have transaction delays from the recording office in Wayne County, the most populous county in the Detroit metro area.

Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 27, 2026 09:33 ET (13:33 GMT)