Home prices in July and August saw the biggest decline since January 2009 despite inventory levels stalling out in August, according to Black Knight’s mortgage monitor report.
- M-O-M: The Black Knight Home Price Index had home prices sliding .98% in August, this slightly better than the 1.05% decline in July. The two-month slide is the largest since January 2009 and is the eighth biggest on record.
- Y-O-Y: Home prices are still up 12.1% from the same time last year due to the record growth seen in late 2021 and early 2022.
Over $8k. The average home price is now down 2% ($8.8K) from its June peak nationally. Annual home price growth is expected to continue falling as we enter the five-month stretch between September through January when home prices historically tend to face more neutral to negative seasonal pressure.
- While the vast majority if markets have fallen very little, hotter markets in the West have seen bigger drops. San Jose leads the way with a 13%, or $203,000, drop followed by San Francisco (-10.8%/-$137K) and Seattle (-9.9%/-$82.5K).
Delinquencies Down. Despite concern for the housing market, it appears that homeowners have never been in a better position. The drop in past-due mortgage payments was broad-based with the number of borrowers with a single payment past due falling 4% and 90-day delinquencies falling 4.5% to a low not seen since April 2020.
- The national delinquency rate fell 10 basis points in August to 2.79%, just 4 bips off the record low set in May of this year.
BOTTOM LINE: Home prices may be beginning to fall but homeowners have never been in a better position financially to handle the pullback.