US home prices rose to yet another record high in July, although the overall pace of price appreciation slowed.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine US census divisions, increased 5.0% year over year in July compared with an annual gain of 5.5% in the previous month.

The 10-City Composite grew 6.8% year over year, down from a 7.4% annual increase the month prior. The 20-City Composite rose 5.9% year over year, down from a 6.5% hike in June.

Home prices eased with falling mortgage rates and increased housing supply, although inventory remains tight in some regions. In July, the number of homes actively available for sale rose 36.6% year over year, which was the ninth straight month of growth, according to a report by Realtor.com. However, most metros had a lower level of inventory compared with the pre-pandemic years.

"Accounting for seasonality of home purchases, we have witnessed 14 consecutive record highs in our National Index," said Brian Luke, head of commodities, real and digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a Sept. 24 release. "The growth has come at a cost, with all but two markets decelerating last month, eight markets seeing monthly declines, and the slowest annual growth nationally in 2024."

On a monthly basis, the US National Index rose 0.2% after seasonal adjustment in July, equivalent to the monthly rise in June. Both the 20-City Composite and 10-City Composite reported a monthly gain of 0.3%.

New York once more recorded the largest yearly increase among the 20 cities, with an 8.8% rise in July. It was followed by Las Vegas and Los Angeles, which booked annual gains of 8.2% and 7.2%, respectively.

"New York's low-tier index, which includes home values up to $533,000, helped drive that growth with 10.8% annual gains," Luke said.

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US mortgage rates drop to lowest in 1 year

Mortgage rates continued to decline through August and September to lowest levels in more than 12 months.

The average US 30-year fixed-conforming mortgage rate stood at 6.47% on Sept. 24, down 72 basis points from 7.19% on Sept. 22, 2023.

The average US 15-year fixed-conforming mortgage rate was 5.88% on Sept. 24, down 78 basis points from 6.66% on Sept. 22, 2023.

Home sales fall in August

The decline in mortgage rates did not help improve home sales in August.

Existing home sales fell 2.5% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.86 million units, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Sales dropped 4.2% year over year.

Three of the four US regions posted month-over-month declines in existing home sales. Year over year, sales fell in three regions. The South posted the highest declines both on a monthly and yearly basis, at 3.9% and 6.0%, respectively.

"Home sales were disappointing again in August, but the recent development of lower mortgage rates coupled with increasing inventory is a powerful combination that will provide the environment for sales to move higher in future months," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, in a Sept. 19 release.

The median price of an existing home rose 3.1% year over year to $416,700. This marks the 14th straight month of year-over-year home price increases, the release said.

New home sales nationwide stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 716,000 units in August, down 4.7% from the previous month but up 9.8% from the year-ago period, according to data from the US Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Sales in the Northeast declined 27.3% from the previous month and 33.3% from the previous year to 24,000 units, the biggest decline among all US regions. The South was the only region to post both a month-over-month and year-over-year rise in new home sales.

Top mortgage lender

Total residential mortgages originated in the year through June was $1.017 trillion, representing a decline of 0.9% year over year.

Pontiac, Mich.-based UWM Holdings Corp. remained the top US residential mortgage lender with $41.90 billion in mortgages originated in the year through June, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.