Budget-conscious home seekers who need any whiff of hope may cheer the latest Case-Schiller national price index .

The good news is that this oft-quoted yardstick of U.S. prices declined 0.3% between February and March. It’s the first monthly dip in the “seasonally adjusted” version of the index since January 2023.

Now, grand pronouncements shouldn’t be based on such a short-run decline. But it’s a noteworthy end to a winning streak for prices that helped make housing totally unaffordable across the nation .

Why the slip? Well, real estate anxieties ran high as 2025 began.

The new White House administration rapidly imposed what you could call non-traditional economic policies. Then there were those lofty mortgage rates. The job market looked wobbly, too.

So house hunters balked.

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