According to the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Indices for July 2026, released September 29, 2026.
What the report says
The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index rose 1.9% from a year earlier in July, up from a 1.6% annual gain in June. The 20-City Composite rose 2.5% year over year, and the 10-City Composite rose 3.4%.
After seasonal adjustment, national home prices were up 0.3% from June. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the national index rose just 0.12% month over month.
Home values still fell in real terms (after inflation) for the 14th straight month. July consumer inflation ran about 3.4%, roughly 1.5 percentage points above the 1.9% home-price gain.
Among major metros, Chicago led with a 6.9% annual gain, followed by New York (5.8%) and Cleveland (4.2%). Seattle was the weakest, down 1.6% year over year, with Las Vegas (−1.3%) and Denver (−1.1%) also lower than a year ago.
Closer to home for California and Oregon shoppers: Los Angeles was up about 1.2% year over year, San Diego about 1.6%, and San Francisco about 3.5%. Portland was down about 0.7% from a year earlier.
Key points to know
- A 1.9% national annual gain is modest by recent housing-cycle standards — prices are drifting up, not surging.
- Because inflation ran hotter than home-price growth, the typical homebuyer’s purchasing power picture is still tight even when the headline index is positive.
- The East-West gap remains: more Eastern metros accelerated year over year in July than Western ones.
- West Coast shoppers are not in one market — San Francisco is still up year over year, while Seattle and Portland are soft to slightly down.
- Case-Shiller tracks repeat sales of the same properties, so it is a cleaner read on “same-home” price change than a simple median sale price.
Why it matters if you are buying or already own
If you are shopping in California or Oregon, July’s report is not a crash signal — and it is not a return to bidding-war inflation either. Nationally, prices are still climbing a little, but far slower than they did in the boom years, and some Northwest metros are already softer than a year ago.
That combination — modest national appreciation plus weaker pockets in the West — usually means more room to negotiate on price, credits, or repairs than buyers had when every listing drew multiple offers. It does not erase today’s mortgage-rate pressure; weekly averages have recently printed around or above 7%, so monthly payments still do most of the heavy lifting on affordability.
If you already own, a 1.9% national year-over-year gain (and real declines after inflation) is a reminder that home equity is not compounding the way it did in 2021–2022. Your local block can still outperform or underperform the national index — especially across California metros that are not moving in lockstep.
Important limits
- July Case-Shiller reflects sales that closed over a multi-month window, so it lags the listings and contracts you see this week.
- Metro indexes are city-level averages. Neighborhoods inside Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Portland, or Seattle can look very different.
- Detroit’s July metro update was withheld because of county recording delays; that does not change the national or West Coast figures above.
- This is market news for homebuyers and homeowners — not advice to buy, wait, list, or choose a specific loan.
Source: S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Indices for July 2026 (released September 29, 2026).