US National Home Prices Accelerate At Record Pace In August Home sales are rebounding, despite median prices at record highs and mortgage rates notably higher, and that demand-pull is evident in August's Case-Shiller Home Price data (the latest data released today from this heavily lagged series). The data was slightly mixed however with the 20-City Composite Price Index growth decelerating from +20.02% YoY in July to 'only' +19.66% YoY in August; while the National Home Price Index growth accelerated from +19.75% YoY to +19.85% YoY in August... Source: Bloomberg It is worth noting that the 20-City Composite Price Index has not seen prices fall on a MoM basis since March 2012... Source: Bloomberg Phoenix, San Diego, and Tampa reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities in August. All of which explains why (according to UMich sentiment surveys), homebuyer sentiment is firmly at record lows driven by price: Source: Bloomberg But, what is missing from that 'survey' is the elephant in the room... Wall Street investors. As we noted previously, how is it that homes are both unaffordable and soaring in price? As with so many other things that shouldn’t be, the answer can be found at the intersection of Wall Street and easy money. Tyler Durden Tue, 10/26/2021 - 09:05