US housing prices continued to rise in March amid a higher-for-longer interest rate environment.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine US census divisions, reported a 6.5% annual gain in March, unchanged from the previous month.

The 10-City Composite rose 8.2% year over year, up from an 8.1% year-over-year increase in the previous month. The 20-City Composite rose 7.4% year over year, up from a 7.3% annual gain in the previous month.

"This month's report boasts another all-time high," said Brian Luke, head of commodities, real and digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a May 28 release. "Our National Index has reached new highs in six of the last 12 months."

San Diego once again reported the highest year-over-year gain among the 20 cities, with an 11.1% gain in March, followed by New York and Cleveland, which recorded annual gains of 9.2% and 8.8%, respectively.

The US National Index rose 0.3% month over month after seasonal adjustment. The 20-City Composite and 10-City Composite recorded monthly increases of 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively.

"On a seasonal adjusted basis, national home prices have reached their ninth all-time high within the past year, with all 20 metropolitan markets posting positive annual gains for the fourth consecutive month, indicating widespread and sustained growth in the housing sector," Luke said.

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Mortgage rates decline in May

US mortgage rates declined mid-May after a persistent rise since the end of March.

The average US 15-year fixed-conforming mortgage rate rose 2 basis points from April 30 to 6.57% on May 10 before declining to 6.50% on May 24.

The average US 30-year fixed-conforming mortgage rate rose 3 basis points from April 30 to 7.12% on May 9 and declined to 7.03% on May 24.

Existing and new home sales declined in April

Existing home sales fell month over month and year over year for most US regions in April, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Existing home sales declined 1.9% on a yearly and monthly basis to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.14 million units in April.

"Home sales changed little overall, but the upper-end market is experiencing a sizable gain due to more supply coming onto the market," Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR, said in a May 22 release.

At 4.0%, the Northeast region logged the highest declines in existing home sales month over month and year over year, to an annual rate of 480,000 units.

New home sales dropped 4.7% month over month and 7.7% year over year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 634,000 units in April, according to data from the US Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Northeast recorded the highest month-over-month decline in new home sales at 20.9%.

The Midwest was the only region to log a month-over-month and year-over-year increase in new home sales, at 10.0% and 27.5%, respectively.

Top mortgage lender

Pontiac, Mich.-based UWM Holdings Corp. was the top US residential mortgage lender, with $11.67 billion in mortgages originated year to date through February, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

Total residential mortgages originated from the start of the year through February stood at $270.40 billion, up 3.2% year over year.