Dec. 30--Chicago-area homes prices continued to lose traction in October, posting a second consecutive monthly decrease, according to a widely watched index.
The 1 percent decrease in area home prices in October, after a 0.3 percent drop in September, meant October home prices were only 1.9 percent better than those in October 2013, according to the monthly S/Case-Shiller home price index, released Tuesday.
Chicago was far from the only city to see a decrease in October, but its loss was the greatest among the 20 major cities included in the index. The decrease also meant that among those cities, Chicago had the second-smallest year-over-year increase in home prices. The only city with a smaller year-over-year gain was Cleveland, where prices were up 0.9 percent on an annualized basis in October.
Local prices were on par with their pre-bubble levels in the spring of 2003.
Eight other cities -- most notably San Francisco, Denver, Tampa, Fla., and Miami -- recorded monthly gains in October.
Combined, the 20 cities in the index showed a 0.1 percent month-over-month decrease in home prices in October. Compared with October 2013, home prices are up 4.5 percent.
The report follows other somber national statistics recently tallied for the housing market, including a 1.6 percent decrease in housing starts and new-home sales in November and a 6.1 percent decrease in existing-home sales.
Economists have expected the rapid gains seen earlier this year to moderate, keeping housing more affordable for potential buyers and calming worries about bubbles in some cities. Quicken Loans Vice President Bill Banfield called the current rate of national growth "manageable," saying it was "much healthier and more sustainable than the double-digit increases we had seen in years past."
mepodmolik@tribpub.com
Twitter @mepodmolik
