The Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which is considered the “gold standard” for appreciation, showed home prices fell 0.8% from November to December but they were 5.8% higher when compared to December 2021. This annual reading is a decline from the 7.6% gain reported in November.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) also released their House Price Index, which revealed that home prices fell 0.1% from November to December. While prices rose 6.6% from December 2021 to December 2022, this was a decline from the 8.2% annual increase reported in November. FHFA’s report measures home price appreciation on single-family homes with conforming loan amounts, which means it most likely represents lower-priced homes. It also differs from Case-Shiller’s data, in that it does not include cash buyers or jumbo loans.

What’s the bottom line? Home prices have been softening nationwide, but S&P DJI Managing Director Craig J. Lazzara noted that they are only down 4.4% from their peak last June. This is a far cry from a housing crash of 20% that some in the media are predicting.

Plus, when important seasonal adjustments were made to Case-Shiller’s data, prices were only down 2.7% from the peak. These adjustments remove some of the market strength seen during the busier home shopping seasons and some of the weakness seen during the softer months, so we can see the true trend over time.

In addition, Case-Shiller’s 10-City and 20-City Indexes showed that prices in some major cities that were overheated are declining a bit more than they are in the nation overall. When removing those cities, prices around the rest of the country are flatter from the peak.