Between an ongoing decline in the annual rate of nominal home price appreciation and the energy-driven surge in headline CPI inflation, real US housing wealth fell the most since the summer of 2023.

That was the standout takeaway from Tuesday’s update on the marquee measures of US home values. The report also showed prices fell outright on a YoY basis in over half of America’s largest 20 metros in March.

In the accompanying editorial, Nicholas Godec, S&P’s head of FICC, described “a broadening and deepening housing slowdown.”

The figure above shows you the deepening contraction in real home price returns.

On the Case-Shiller 20-city gauge, the decline was nearly 2.5% during the first month of the war. (Remember: These indexes are updated on a two-month delay.) Using the broader, national index, the inflation-adjusted drop was even deeper.

In a continuation of the recent trend (which is itself a reversal of the pandemic boom dynamic), the Midwest showed relative strength while the Sun Belt sagged. Chicago led all cities with a 6.1% annual gain.

Commenting further on Tuesday, Godec said that notwithstanding a modest “spring lift,” the market has “little underlying momentum.”

The increase in mortgage rates (a function of higher Treasury yields) has “re-intensif[ied] the affordability squeeze on buyers, further damping home sales and price growth,” he added.