S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller: US Home Prices Rise 3.9% In July

FILE - In this Sept. 3, 2019 file photo a sign rests in front of a newly constructed home, in Westwood, Mass. U.S. home prices rose in April for the eighth straight month, even as sales have stumbled, a sign the coronavirus outbreak has had little impact on real estate values. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index climbed 4% in April, the largest gain since December 2018, up from 3.9% in March. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

U.S. home prices rose at a faster pace in July as the housing market continued to show strength in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index, released Tuesday, rose 3.9% in July from a year earlier, up from a 3.5% annual gain in June. The July gain was slightly higher than economists had expected.

The 20-city index excluded prices from the Detroit metropolitan area index because of delays related to pandemic at the recording office in Wayne County, which includes Detroit.

Phoenix (up 9.2%), Seattle (7%) and Charlotte, North Carolina (6%), reported the biggest year-over-year gains. Sixteen of the 19 cities saw prices rise at a faster pace than they did in June. The smallest gains came in Chicago (up 0.8%) and New York (1.3%).

Helped by rock-bottom mortgage rates, the U.S. housing market has largely withstood the economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak. The Commerce Department reported last week that sales of new homes rose a solid 4.8% in August after surging 13.9% in July.

Home prices are being pushed higher by a shortage of available properties.

�Home prices continued to push pandemic-related uncertainties aside and reach new heights into the summer months, as demand for housing outpaced supply,� said economist Matthew Speakman of the real estate firm Zillow. �An unprecedented lack of for-sale homes combined with persistently low mortgage rates have stoked a competition for housing in recent months that will not relent.?

(AP)