Oct. 28--Home price gains in the Chicago area showed signs of slowing in August, posting the smallest monthly increase in home sales prices in six months, according to data released Tuesday.
One factor is the growing ranks of renters. The Census Bureau reported Tuesday that the nation's homeownership rate fell to 64.4 percent in the third quarter, a low not seen since the first quarter of 1995, when the rate was 64.2 percent.
It was the fourth consecutive quarterly decline for homeownership. In 2013's third quarter, the rate was 65.3 percent, according to the data.
Also during the third quarter, 7.4 percent of rental housing units were reported as vacant, almost 1 percent lower than a year ago, and the homeowner vacancy rate of 1.8 percent was slightly lower than a year ago. As of September, the rental vacancy rate was the lowest it has been since at least early 2005.
On a national level, the median rent was $756 a month.
Local home prices rose 0.4 percent in August from July and follows a 0.8 percent increase in July, according to the closely monitored S/Case-Shiller home price index. On a year-over-year basis, Chicago-area home prices rose 2.9 percent, and comparable with where they were in June 2003.
Condominium sales prices were flat with July and up 3 percent from August 2013.
All cities except Cleveland showed evidence of slowing price increases compared with a year ago, but in many cities, the year-over-year gains easily beat what buyers and sellers are seeing in Chicago's housing market. For instance, annualized August home prices were up 10.1 percent in Las Vegas, 9 percent in San Francisco, 6.6 percent in Seattle and 3.1 percent in New York.
Combined, the 20 cities included in the index showed a 5.6 percent year-over-year gain in home prices. That compared with an annual gain of 6.7 percent recorded in July.
"The deceleration in home prices continues," said David Blitzer, chairman of S Dow Jones Indices' index committee, in a statement. "The large extent of slower increases is seen in the annual figures with all 20 cities."
mepodmolik@tribune.com
Twitter @mepodmolik
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