S. Fla. home price gains leveling out

First-time buyers helped by slower pace

Home prices in South Florida increased 5.3 percent in May from a year ago, a sign that recent gains are moderating, a new report shows.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday offers a more measured assessment of prices in the region than the ones issued by local Realtor boards on Monday.

The Realtor figures for June indicate that median prices in Broward, MiamiDade and Palm Beach counties are steadily rising and approaching peak levels from a decade ago.

But the Case-Shiller data point to smaller annual price growth across the tricounty region in the past five months.

Case-Shiller, which tracks prices in 20 major metropolitan areas nationwide, is one of the most respected housing barometers. Unlike Realtor boards, the index measures the price of the same house over time. However, it trails the Realtor data by one month.

Sean Snaith, an economist at the University of Central Florida, said CaseShiller and the Realtor numbers offer different measures of the same trend in Florida.

“I don’t see them as being all that inconsistent,” he said. “We had double-digit price appreciation [in recent years] and that has definitely stopped. That’s really the bottom line.”

Among the 20 metros, Seattle had the highest increase at 13.3 percent, according to the index. Portland, Ore., was second at 8.9 percent. The national average was 5.7 percent.

“Home prices continue to climb and outpace both inflation and wages,” David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee for S&P, said in a statement. “Housing is not repeating the bubble period of 2000-2006.”

Blitzer said price increases vary across the nation, unlike the earlier bubble, when higher prices were “almost universal.” He also pointed to fewer sales and a declining supply of homes as reasons why the market today is in better shape than a decade ago.

Slower price growth is welcome in South Florida