S&P reported on Tuesday its Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which tracks home prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas, surged 3.9 percent y-o-y in March, following an unrevised 3.5 percent y-o-y increase in February.

Economists had expected an advance of 3.3 percent y-o-y.

Phoenix (+8.2 percent y-o-y), Seattle (+6.9 percent y-o-y), and Charlotte (+5.8 percent y-o-y) recorded the highest y-o-y advances in March. Overall, 17 of the 19 cities reported greater price gains in the year ending March versus the year ending February.

Meanwhile, the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which measures all nine U.S. census divisions, climbed 4.4 percent y-o-y in March, up from 4.2 percent y-o-y in the previous month.

"March’s data witnessed the first impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices,” noted Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director and Global Head of Index Investment Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “We have data from only 19 cities this month, since transactions records for Wayne County, Michigan (in the Detroit metropolitan area) were unavailable. “That said, housing prices continue to be remarkably stable”, he added.