Home prices in major U.S. metropolitan areas continued to increase in the month of June, according to a report released by Standard & Poor's on Tuesday, although the price growth came in just shy of economist estimates.
The report said the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent in June after rising by 1.0 percent in May. Economists had been expecting the index to show another 1.0 percent increase.
On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the index increased by 2.2 percent in June following a 2.5 percent increase in the previous month.
The 20-City Composite Home Price Index saw a 12.1 percent annual rate of growth in June compared to expectations for 12.2 percent growth.
S&P noted that all twenty cities saw both monthly and annual price growth, although only six cities saw faster price growth than in the previous month.
"National home prices rose more than 10% annually in each of the last two quarters," said David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "However, the monthly city by city data show the pace of price increases is moderating."
"As we are in the middle of a seasonal buying period, we should expect to see the most gains," he added. "With interest rates rising to almost 4.6%, home buyers may be discouraged and sharp increases may be dampened."
Wednesday morning, the National Association of Realtors is scheduled to release a separate report on pending home sales in the month of July. Economists expect pending home sales to fall by 1.0 percent.
A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.
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