US home prices continued to rise, worsening an affordability crisis which, according even to housing market cheerleaders, now threatens to seriously undermine economic mobility for tens of millions of woebegone renters shut out of the American dream.

Prices rose 4.5% YoY in February on the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city gauge, according to Tuesday’s update. This tally, you’re reminded, comes on a two-month delay.

For what it’s worth, that pace was slower than expected. Consensus saw 4.7%.

Recall that the rate of annual price appreciation had re-accelerated starting in November after falling from nearly 8% in March of 2024 to a local low of 4.2% in October.

These are more “normal” 12-month rates, but the problem’s the same as it is for anything else coming off a period of rampant inflation: You’re not getting relief. Prices aren’t falling. They’re just rising more slowly.

4.5% annual home price appreciation isn’t problematic in and of itself. In fact, it’s desirable, particularly from the (biased) perspective of property owners. But it’s a disaster for anyone who doesn’t own in the context of an era where prices were, at one point, rising at a 12-month rate in excess of 20%, as they were in 2021 and 2022.

“Even with mortgage rates remaining in the mid-6% range and affordability challenges lingering, home prices have shown notable resilience,” S&P’s Nicholas Godec said Tuesday. “Buyer demand has certainly cooled compared to the frenzied pace of prior years, but limited housing supply continues to underpin prices in most markets,” he went on. “Rather than broad declines, we are seeing a slower, more sustainable pace of price growth.”

I guess. But from a societal perspective, I doubt “sustainable” is the right word these days. Too many Americans spend more than 30% of their income on housing. That threshold matters: That’s the point beyond which people have to start making the kinds of choices they shouldn’t have to make, and I don’t mean settling for a Celine messenger when you really (really) wanted the latest Dior saddle bag.

The broader, Case-Shiller national index rose 3.9% YoY in February. “Much of the annual appreciation was front-loaded into the first half of the period, while the second half reflected a flatter performance, highlighting the broader cooling trend,” Godec said. On a MoM basis, the 20-city gauge rose 0.4% and the national index 0.3%.

Meanwhile, over at Redfin’s news section (which, as I’m always keen to point out, is a fantastic resource) Lily Katz noted that sellers are now asking nearly $40,000 more than buyers are willing to pay.

As the chart shows, that figure — $38,672 to be precise about things — is a record.

On that metric, things haven’t “been this out of whack since the start of the pandemic,” Katz wrote, adding that “market dynamics have shifted in favor of buyers, but sellers have been slow to adjust.”