South Florida Home Prices Rising Slower Than Other Areas Nationwide

South Florida’s housing market may be hot, but other major markets across the country are even hotter.

Prices in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties rose 5 percent in June from a year ago, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index. The index, released Tuesday, tracks prices in 20 major metropolitan areas nationwide.

Only four other metros — Cleveland, Washington, D.C., Chicago and New York — had lower percentage increases than South Florida.

Seattle, the most robust market in the country, led all areas with a 13.4 percent increase in June. Seattle’s price gains have topped the index for 10 consecutive months.

Portland, Ore., was second with an 8.2 percent increase, while Dallas was third at 7.7 percent. Tampa, the only other Florida metro tracked by the index, saw prices jump 6.9 percent in June.

South Florida last led the nation in home price growth in August, September and October 2014. But the tri-county region’s slower price growth doesn’t bother Ken Johnson, a real estate economist and professor at Florida Atlantic University.

“That is absolutely good news,” he said. “Slower appreciation at this point in the real estate cycle is far better for the overall market.”

Historically, homes appreciate at 4 to 6 percent a year. Anything more than that is unsustainable and can lead to a collapse similar to what the nation experienced more than a decade ago, analysts say.

The Case-Shiller index is one of the leading barometers of prices nationwide because it measures the price of the same house over time.

By comparison, local Realtor boards release a median price for homes sold in a given month. Case-Shiller trails the Realtor data by one month.

David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee for S&P, said in a statement that wages are on the rise and more jobs are being created. And while mortgage rates are up slightly from the end of 2016, they’re still under 4 percent, he said.

“Given current economic conditions and the tight housing market, an immediate reversal in home price trends appears unlikely,” Blitzer said.