Data: S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices via FRED; Chart: Axios Visuals
Home prices could decline by between 4% and 10% before hitting bottom, per a new note from analysts at Barclays.
Driving the news: "The likelihood of a sharp house price correction has intensified," the authors write, emphasizing that the uncertainty in the market right now is around the trajectory of interest rates.
Why it matters: Home prices shot up like a rocket since the beginning of the pandemic — now the key question is whether they'll crash and burn, or just gently drift a bit downward.
Home prices soared an astonishing 42% between February 2020 and their peak in June 2022. Since then prices have fallen month over month.
"With house prices having already turned down this summer, the question now is not whether house prices will fall, but by how much," the Barclays analysts wrote.
The bottom line: Home prices have only just begun their descent from the stratosphere. All eyes are on the Fed now to determine what happens next.