US S&P Case Shiller home price index edges up in May

Home price inflation in the States slowed in May, the results of a closely-followed gauge revealed.

Standard&Poor's Core Logic Case-Shiller national home price index rose at a year-on-year pace of 4.5% in May, down from the 4.6% advance observed in April.

A narrower gauge tracking prices in the country's 20 largest metropolitan areas also revealed a slowdown, from 3.9% to 3.7% (Barclays: 4.1%).

Phoenix, Seattle and Tampa clocked-in with the largets annual home price gains, of 9.0%, 6.8% and 6.0%, respectively.

Three of 19 cities reported an acceleration in their year-on-year rates of price changes.

In seasonally adjusted terms meanwhile, the nationwide HPI was only 0.1% higher and flat in the case of the 20-city index (Barclays: 0.3%).

Craig J. Lazzara at S&P Dow Jones Indices described home prices as "stable".

"More data will obviously be required in order to know whether May’s report represents a reversal of the previous path of accelerating prices or merely a slight deviation from an otherwise intact trend," he added.

"Even if prices continue to decelerate, that is quite different from an environment in which prices actually decline."