U.S. home price growth picked up for a second straight month in August 2026. The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index rose 2.1% from a year earlier, after a 1.9% gain in July, S&P Dow Jones Indices said. Home values still fell in real terms for the 15th consecutive month, as consumer prices rose 3.4%, about 1.3 percentage points faster than home prices.
The 10-City Composite rose 3.6% year on year, up from 3.4% in July, and the 20-City Composite gained 2.7%, up from 2.5%.
Chicago led the 20 cities for the sixth consecutive month with a 6.7% annual gain, followed by New York at 6.2% and Cleveland at 4.3%. Seattle posted the largest decline for the third month in a row, falling 2.0%, followed by Las Vegas at 1.3% and Denver at 0.8%. There is no August reading for Detroit because of delays in transaction data from the recording office in Wayne County.
“U.S. home prices declined in real terms for the 15th consecutive month in August 2026, though the gap narrowed as nominal home price growth strengthened,” said Rebecca Kaufman, associate director of commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The divergence suggests that the typical post-summer slowdown is obscuring some underlying strength in home prices.”
Before seasonal adjustment, the national index fell 0.2% from July, and the 10-City and 20-City composites each fell 0.4%. After seasonal adjustment, the national index rose 0.3%, the 10-City Composite 0.4% and the 20-City Composite 0.3%.
At 336.74, the national index was 9.3% above its June 2022 peak.