Lower Rates Increased Affordability in July

At least one housing index is seeing a turn-around in the direction of home prices. Black Knight says the continuing decline of interest rates have increased homebuying affordability. As a result, its ended 16 straight months of decelerating appreciation in July.

The company's Home Price Index (HPI) increased 0.34 percent for the month, bringing year-over-year growth to 3.9 percent.  Over the preceding 16 months the annual growth rate had slowed from a peak of 6.75 percent in February 2018 to 3.7 percent in June. While the rate of appreciation slowed over that 15-month period, prices continued to rise and in July marked 87 consecutive months of annual increases.

July's HPI shows year-over-year home price growth in all 50 states as well as 99 of the 100 largest U.S. housing markets.  The one exception is San Jose. The country's most expensive market saw a year-over-year pull-back in prices of 6.4 percent.