The pace of annualized home-price growth slowed again in March, slipping to 0.66% from 0.75% as buyers and sellers remained in a “standoff,” Cotality said, citing the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index. 

Month over month, March’s price increase dipped to 0.7% from an average 0.8% gain from 2015 to 2019. 

“Buyers are rejecting current price tags, but sellers refuse to offer steep discounts. The result is in a standoff,” Cotality Principal Economist Thom Malone said. “Monthly price growth in March was the slowest since 2019. Sales were also low, indicating that sellers are still waiting for the rest of the economy to catch up with the housing market. Still, the modest appreciation points away from any immediate price drops and signals that buyers might be the ones who end up giving the most ground.”   

By metro, “older, colder” markets saw the sharpest increases in price growth, led by Chicago, where prices jumped 6.1%, followed by New York (4%), Cleveland (3%) and Boston (2.1%) Chicago also led the pack in terms of month-over-month price growth with a 2.2% gain, followed by San Francisco (2%), Boston (1.8%) and Denver (1.3%). 

Ultimately, the United States market remains in a “holding pattern.”  

“Prices reflect homeowners who are clinging to the equity,” Cotality said. “But house hunters cannot stretch their budgets any further. This gridlock means homes are spending longer on the market and overall appreciation is flattening out.”  

Looking ahead, any changes will depend on whether sellers decide to start trimming asking prices, with any shift in that direction slow to materialize. 

“We can expect a housing market defined by minimal, single-digit price growth for the foreseeable future,” Cotality concluded.