U.S. home prices rose more slowly in June as some of the country�s most expensive housing markets saw stagnant or even falling prices.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 2.1% in June from a year earlier, down from a 2.4% gain in May.

Prices fell 1.3% in Seattle and inched up 0.7% in San Francisco and 1.1% in New York. But prices rose 5.8% in Phoenix and 5.5% in Las Vegas.

Philip Murphy of S&P Dow Jones Indices said that prices have �clearly cooled off from 2018� but continue to grow. �Therefore, it is likely that current rates of change will be generally sustained barring an economic downturn,� he said.

Rising wages and falling mortgage rates have kept demand for housing strong, but buyers aren�t willing to pay escalated prices and �are making sellers wait and even drop list prices,� said Matthew Speakman, economist at the real estate firm Zillow.

The 20-city index has risen 62.3% since hitting bottom March 2012 in the aftermath of the financial crisis and Great Recession. It is up 5.4% from its pre-crisis peak in July 2006.

(AP)