Home price growth slows

U.S. home prices grew 1.6 percent in June, close to the lowest year-over-year growth rate recorded in 11 years, according to a report.

Compared to May, home sales – including properties in or near foreclosure – were up 0.5 percent, a sign that price appreciation could be leveling nationwide, Irvine-based CoreLogic reported.

Home prices are 41 percent higher than they were before the onset of the pandemic in the spring of 2020. Price appreciation is expected to increase the rest of this year and reach about seven percent by early next year.

“While the imbalance between buyers and sellers continues to pressure home prices, June’s annual bump in price growth echoes economic resiliency, a thriving U.S. job market and strong consumer spending,” said Selma Hepp, Core Logic’s chief economist, in the statement.

Despite higher mortgage rates, nearly four in 10 single-family home sales in the United States are all-cash transactions, Hepp said.

In the Inland Empire, June home prices – distressed properties included – were down 1.3 percent year-over-year and 0.9 percent month-over-month, CoreLogic reported.