The U.S. housing market stayed hot in October, with the price of homes rising yet again, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, which registered an 0.8% seasonally adjusted gain from September and a 19.1% year-over-year increase.  

After seasonal adjustment, the 10-city and 20-city composite indexes posted increases of 0.8% and 0.9%, respectively. 

“We continue to see very strong growth at the city level,” S&P DJI managing director Craig Lazzara said in a press release. “All 20 cities saw price increases in the year ended October 2021. October’s increase ranked in the top quintile of historical experience for 19 cities, and in the top decile for 17 of them.”  

Lazzara noted that despite the broad-based increases, the pace of rising prices slowed in 14 of the 20 cities compared to September. 

Phoenix, followed by Tampa, Fla., and Miami, claimed the largest price gains among the 20 metro areas in the index. 

“We have previously suggested that the strength in the U.S. housing market is being driven in part by a change in locational preferences as households react to the COVID pandemic,” Lazzara said. “More data will be required to understand whether this demand surge represents an acceleration of purchases that would have occurred over the next several years, or reflects a more permanent secular change.”