Home price appreciation in major U.S. metropolitan areas in the first month of the year kept pace with recent gains as inventory remained low, S&P Dow Jones Indices reported Tuesday.
The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Index rose 5.7 percent in January from the previous year, roughly in line with expectations.
“Home prices are rising very rapidly — twice the rate of inflation. There is very, very little supply. There is four to five months supply in the market right now, which is quite low,” David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”
Despite a bump in single-family home construction in February, the country is still not building enough new residences, the segment of housing that drives the economy, he added.
