That is the weakest annual appreciation since July 2023.

"More than half of the 20 major U.S. housing markets recorded year-over-year price declines in March, reflecting a broadening and deepening housing slowdown," said Nicholas Godec, CFA, CAIA, CIPM, Head of Fixed Income Tradables & Commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

The trend is clear across almost every city...

And the two-year chart looks particularly ugly...

"The geographic divergence remains stark," Godec continued.

"Midwest and Northeast markets are sustaining modest growth, while much of the Sun Belt and Western regions are still seeing declines. Chicago led all cities with a 6.1% annual gain, followed by New York (4.0%) and Cleveland (3.0%). In contrast, Seattle's 2.5% year-over-year decline was the steepest in March, with Denver (-2.0%), Tampa (-1.9%), Dallas (-1.7%), and Phoenix (-1.6%) joining Seattle among the weakest performers. Even Los Angeles (-1.6%) and Washington (-0.1%) turned negative.

The spread between the strongest and weakest markets – 8.6 percentage points, from Chicago's +6.1% to Seattle's -2.5% – highlights how localized this housing cycle has become. (Detroit's March reading remains unavailable due to local transaction data delays.)