Having ticked up a downwardly revised 1.1 percent in July, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index for single-family home values within the San Francisco Metropolitan Area – which includes the East Bay, North Bay and Peninsula – inched up 0.4 percent in August, for a year-over-year gain of 21.2 percent, which was down from 21.9 percent in July and the first reduction in the year-over-year gain since June of last year.
At a more granular level, the index for the least expensive third of the Bay Area market inched up 0.4 percent in August while its year-over-year gain dropped from 23.1 o 20.9 percent; the index for the middle tier of the market inched up 0.4 percent while its year-over-year gain slipped from 22.5 to 21.8 percent; and the index for the top third of the market inched up 0.3 percent in August for a year-over-year gain of 20.2 percent, down from 21.1 percent in July.
At the same time, the index for Bay Area condo values, which remains a leading indicator for the market as a whole, inched up 0.7 percent from July to August and is now up 6.4 percent on a year-over-year basis, versus year-over-year gains of 12.6 percent, 3.9 percent and 5.1 percent in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York respectively.
And nationally, Phoenix still leads the way in terms of indexed home price gains, having increased by 33.3 percent over the past year, which was up from 32.4 percent in July, followed by San Diego (up 26.2 percent) and now Tampa (up 25.9 percent), with an average indexed gain of 19.8 percent, inching up from 19.7 percent in July to a new record high.
Our standard SocketSite S&P/Case-Shiller footnote: The S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices include San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda in the “San Francisco” index (i.e., greater MSA) and are imperfect in factoring out changes in property values due to improvements versus appreciation (although they try their best).