Excerpt:
Perhaps the timeliest house price report for existing homes is the monthly existing home sales report from the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). Each month the NAR reports the median prices for closed sales. Note: Median prices are distorted by the mix (repeat sales indexes like Case-Shiller and FHFA are probably better for measuring prices).
But even the median price is lagged. For example, the recently released June report was mostly for contracts signed in April and May.
Here is a graph comparing the YoY change in the NAR median prices vs the Case-Shiller National Index:
The YoY change in the median price peaked at 25.2% in May 2021 and slowed to 13.3% in June (still very strong increase in YoY prices). The median price is not seasonally adjusted, and typically declines in July, and I expect a larger than normal decline this July.
In general, the median price leads the Case-Shiller index, and I expect the Case-Shiller to show significantly slower YoY growth over the next several months.
