In all 20 U.S. cities included in the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, August house prices increased year over year, and 19 of 20 posted a month-over-month increase, with only San Francisco showing a 0.1% price decline compared with July. The cities posting the largest year-over-year gains were San Francisco and Denver, both up 10.7%.

In addition to the drop in San Francisco, the smallest month-over-month increases were posted in Charlotte (flat), Cleveland (up 0.1%) and Los Angeles (up 0.1%)/

The smallest year-over-year gains came in New York (up 1.8%), Chicago (up 1.9%) and Washington, D.C. (up 1.9%). Month over month, Portland posted a 1.1% gain and Denver prices rose 0.9%.

The S&P/Case-Shiller national home price index for August increased by 5.1% year over year for the 20-city composite index and by 4.7% for the 10-city composite index. The national index rose 4.7% year over year, flat with the July increase. The consensus estimate for the 20-city index called for growth of 5.1% year over year.

Month over month, the 20-City index rose 0.4%, while the 10-city and national indexes gained 0.3%. On a seasonally adjusted basis the 10-city and 20-city indexes rose 0.1% from July to August. Nineteen of 20 cities reported increases in July before seasonal adjustment; after seasonal adjustment, five were down, 12 were up and three were unchanged.

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The index tracks prices on a three-month rolling average. August represents the three-month average of June, July and August prices.

Average home prices for August remain comparable to their levels in the winter of 2007.

The chairman of the S&P index committee said:

Home prices continue to climb at a 4% to 5% annual rate across the country. Most other recent housing indicators also show strength. … Sales of existing homes are running about 5.5 million units annually with inventories of about five months of sales. … A notable part of today’s economy is the continuing low inflation rate; in the year to September, consumer prices were unchanged. Even excluding food and energy, the core inflation was 1.9%. One result is that a 5% price increase in the value of a house means more today than it did in 2005-2006, the peak of the housing boom when the inflation rate was higher. The rebound from the recent lows was faster than the 1997-2005 housing boom, and also much less driven by inflation.

Compared with their peak in the summer of 2006, home prices on both 10-city and 20-city indexes remain down about 11% to 13%. Since the low of March 2012, home prices are up 34.8% and 36.1% on the 10-city and 20-city indexes, respectively.

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