U.S. home prices rose in October at a slightly slower pace, as real-estate sales have fallen and affordability has increasingly become a challenge for potential homebuyers.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home-price index - which covers about half of U.S. homes - rose 4.5 percent in October from 12 months earlier. The figures released Tuesday marked the eleventh consecutive month of price gains decelerating, and the October figure was the smallest year-over-year gain since October 2012.
The slowdown in price growth comes after surging increases above 10 percent for much of 2013. Home values climbed as the market recovered from bottoming out in 2011 in the aftermath of the housing bust and the Great Recession.
But home prices have outpaced weak wage growth, leaving many potential buyers unable to afford homes and causing both sales and price growth to stall this year.