NEW YORK–The latest S&P/Case-Shiller national home-price index shows prices have now climbed back to within 4% of its 2006 peak, having climbed quickly since bottoming out 2012.
The new data come at the same time U.S. new-home sales in April posted their strongest month in more than eight years, with a nearly 17% jump from a month earlier, according to the Commerce Department.
Home prices are being driven by strong employment numbers as well as tight inventories. Sales of existing homes were reported at a 5.45 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in April, the second consecutive monthly increase but below the peak seen during the last decade’s boom, according to S&P/Case-Shiller.
The S&P/Case-Shiller national index rose 5.2% in March, but analysts have said that figure is affected by the lack of inventory. During April, single-family housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 778,000 units, down from a more than five-decade average of about 1.03 million.
Even with the robust housing numbers, home ownership itself has actually declined, according to the Commerce Department. The homeownership rate for households headed by someone under 35 years old fell to 34% in the first quarter of this year, the lowest level since at least 1994.
Tightened lending standards have been cited as a reason for the decline in home ownership, especially among younger home buyers.