Home Prices Rose 1.5% Over the Year to June. Inflation Ran Faster.
The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller National Index gained 0.4% from May and 1.5% from a year earlier. Chicago led at 6.9%; Seattle fell 1.9%.
The short answer
- The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller National Home Price Index rose 1.5% in the year to June 2026, up from a 1.2% annual gain in May. The data was released on August 25, 2026.
- The 10-City Composite gained 2.9% over the year and the 20-City Composite 2.1%. The national index rose 0.4% from May before seasonal adjustment, and 0.1% after.
- Chicago posted the strongest annual gain at 6.9%; Seattle was weakest at -1.9%. Sixteen of the twenty tracked metros recorded faster annual appreciation in June than in May.
- June's 0.4% monthly increase was roughly half the average June gain of 0.8% recorded between 2015 and 2019.
U.S. home prices rose 1.5% in the year to June 2026, according to the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller National Home Price Index released on August 25. That is an acceleration from the 1.2% annual gain recorded in May. It is also a number that reads differently depending on which comparison you make. Against last year, prices are up. Against the pace of a normal June, they are not.
June's numbers show a housing market finding its footing, though progress remains slow.
The headline figures
- National Index: up 1.5% year over year, from up 1.2% in May
- 10-City Composite: up 2.9% year over year
- 20-City Composite: up 2.1% year over year
- National Index month over month: up 0.4% before seasonal adjustment, up 0.1% after
- Price tiers, month over month: low tier up 0.1%, middle up 0.3%, high up 0.4%
A June gain half the size of a normal June
The 0.4% monthly increase is not seasonally adjusted, and June is normally a strong month because buyers close in the summer. Cotality puts the average June gain between 2015 and 2019 at 0.8%. This June delivered about half of that. Strip the seasonality out and the national index moved 0.1%.
Chicago and Seattle are nearly nine points apart
The national number hides a wide spread. Chicago posted the strongest annual gain at 6.9%. Seattle was the weakest at -1.9%. Sixteen of the twenty tracked metros recorded faster annual appreciation in June than in May, so the direction of travel was broadly shared even where the levels were not. On the month, New York led at up 1.0% and Seattle again trailed at down 0.5%.
Nominal is not real
A 1.5% annual gain is a nominal figure. Calculated Risk, which tracks the series against consumer prices, notes that June marked the thirteenth consecutive month in which U.S. home values fell in real terms, with inflation running near 3.5% against nominal appreciation of 1.5%. That is a distinction worth holding onto: a house can be worth more dollars and less purchasing power at the same time.
Why it matters
Case-Shiller is the benchmark most often used to describe what housing has done, and it feeds into everything from property tax appeals to the collateral assumptions behind mortgage securities. A national index moving sideways in real terms, with a spread of nearly nine points between the best and worst metro, is a different market from the one implied by a single headline percentage.
Sources
- June brings modest home price pick-up amid uneven recovery — Cotality / S&P Dow Jones Indices
- Case-Shiller: National House Price Index Up 1.5% year-over-year in June — Calculated Risk
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