Case-Shiller: February home prices gains slow

Home prices continued rising more slowly in many cities in February than a year ago, according to a closely-followed gauge of the housing market.

The Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller 20-city index found only five cities saw their annual rates of price appreciation grow in February while 13 posted lower annual rates of growth, S&P reported Tuesday.

Month over month, seasonally-adjusted data showed prices rose in 19 cities, but at slower rates than in January in a majority of them, said David Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index commmittee.

The West continues to show the strongest price run-ups of any region. Denver and Dallas are the only cities in the index where prices have reached post-crisis peaks. Meanwhile, the Northeast shows some of the smallest year-over-year gains.

"The annual rates cooled the most we've seen in some time," Blitzer said.

Average prices nationally are back to where they were in mid-2004, but are still about 20% below their June-July 2006 peaks, according to S&P.

February's Case-Shiller Index marks Las Vegas as the nation's leader for annual gains, up 23.1% compared with February 2013. But that was down from January's annual rate of 24.9%. Las Vegas also showed its first month-over-month decline in almost two years — down 0.1%.

But some analysts say a slower climb in home prices is positive in the long run. "This was expected and is part of a broader return to normal as appreciation slows down, mortgage rates inch up and more balance between buyers and sellers emerges," said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries.

The Case-Shiller report is the latest indicator pointing to a slowdown in the housing recovery in the wake of strong price gains in late 2012 and 2013, higher mortgage rates than last spring and still tight lending climate for many residential home buyers.

Existing home sales in March fell to their lowest annual rate since July 2012 while the annual rate of new home sales last month dropped 14.5%.

A separate report out Tuesday showed mortgage interest rates dipped last month.

The national average contract mortgage rate for the purchase of previously occupied homes was 4.22% for loans closed in late March. That was down from February's rate of 4.30%, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's monthly survey.

In March 2013, the rate was 3.54%.

The FHFA regulates mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.