Home prices saw double-digit price growth yet again in October, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National home price index.

National home prices were up 19.1% in October from the year before, slightly less than the revised 19.7% annual increase in September, and marking the second month in a row of slower growth.

[Raleigh-Durham is not included in the list. Charlotte is, with average prices up some 20%.]

“In October 2021, US home prices moved substantially higher, but at a decelerating rate,” said Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Still, October’s home price gain is the fourth-highest level in the 34 years the data has been tracked. The top three were the three months preceding October.

There is still tremendous price growth at the city level, said Lazzara. All 20 cities tracked by Case Shiller saw price increases in the year ended in October, with Phoenix, Tampa, and Miami reporting the highest year-over-year gains. Home prices in Phoenix were up 32.3% from last year, followed by Tampa with a 28.1% increase and Miami with a 25.7% increase.

Price increases were strongest in the South and Southeast, but every region continued to see double-digit gains.

“We have previously suggested that the strength in the US housing market is being driven in part by a change in locational preferences as households react to the Covid pandemic,” said Lazzara.

“More data will be required to understand whether this demand surge represents an acceleration of purchases that would have occurred over the next several years, or reflects a more permanent secular change.”

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