These metros experienced the highest year-over-year rates of home-price growth in January. Courtesy of CoreLogic.

The year-over-year pace of national home-price increases slowed to its lowest rate since June 2020 in January, although Houston remained relatively strong compared to other markets, CoreLogic reported, citing its monthly Home Price Insights report.     

Home prices were up 5.5% annually in January and down 0.2% on a monthly basis. Looking ahead, CoreLogic expects year-over-year appreciation to slow to 3.1% in February with a month-over-month decline of 0.1%.   

“While 2023 kicked off on a more optimistic note for the U.S. housing market, recent mortgage rate volatility highlights how much uncertainty remains,” Chief Economist Selma Hepp said in a press release. “Nevertheless, the continued shortage of for-sale homes is likely to keep price declines modest, which are projected to top out at 3% peak to trough.” 

Geographically, the deceleration of home prices was most dramatic in the Western U.S. and other areas that experienced the most appreciation over the past few years. Three Northwestern states — Idaho, Montana and Washington — and Washington, D.C., actually saw annual declines, CoreLogic noted. Meanwhile, the states with the highest annual increases were Florida (13.4%), Maine (11.5%) and South Carolina (10.7%). 

Miami posted the highest annual increase among the country’s 20 largest metro areas, at 17.3%, followed by Houston at 6.9% and Chicago at 4.5%.