For the past two years, the story of falling home prices was largely a Sun Belt story — an unwinding of the pandemic-era land rush that had sent values in Austin, Tampa, and Phoenix to unsustainable heights. As recently as February, JPMorgan’s rosy national forecast was masking a “Sun Belt full of pain,” with Florida and Texas bearing the brunt. That regional narrative is now changing.
New data released Tuesday showed the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index fell 0.2% month-over-month in March on a seasonally adjusted basis, the second consecutive monthly decline. The annual pace of appreciation slipped to just 0.8%, and the three-month annualized rate — a cleaner read on momentum — collapsed to -0.2% from 2.3% the month prior.
