Among the house price indexes covered by MND, the one provided by Black Knight has shown the most consistent pattern of diminishing appreciation in recent months. The company's Home Price Index (HPI) has slowed from a monthly gain of 1.3 percent in March to 0.16 in September. But it reversed direction in October, rising by 0.29 percent; not a big gain, but the largest since July. The increase brings US home prices to another new high, $283,000.
The month-over-month slowdown has not yet caught up with the annual rate of increase. Prices have gone up 6.39 percent over the first 10 months of 2017 and were up 6.48 percent for the 12 months ended in October.
Eleven of the nation's 20 largest states and 12 of the 40 largest metros saw their home prices hit new highs in October. New York continued its run at the top of the chart; its 0.98 percent rise in prices gave it the lead for the fourth straight month. Idaho had the second largest increase at 0.94 percent, followed by Utah (0.75 percent), Vermont (0.74 percent) and Nevada (0.68 percent.)
San Jose had the fastest growth among metropolitan areas. Its 1.86 percent increase from September brought it to a total of 17 percent since October 2016. Dover, Delaware was second with a monthly gain of 1.50 percent while Pueblo, Colorado; Hot Springs, Arkansas; and Grand Junction, Colorado all had increases exceeding 1.0 percent.
There were still signs however that appreciation is weakening. Prices fell month-over-month in eight states, led by Alaska at -0.47 percent. Oregon, which had been among the top two or three states in price appreciation earlier this year also saw a loss of 0.27 percent. Michigan, Illinois, and North Dakota were among others posting prices declines.
The Black Knight utilizes repeat sales data from public records and its own loan-level mortgage performance data, to produce its HPI.