Home price growth slows for 11th straight month

U.S. home prices rose in October at a slightly slower pace, as real estate sales have fallen and affordability has increasingly become a challenge for potential buyers.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index increased 4.5% in October from 12 months prior. This marks the eleventh straight month of decelerating price gains and the smallest gain since October 2012.

The slowdown in price growth comes after surging double-digit increases for much of 2013. Home values climbed as the market recovered from bottoming out in 2011 in the aftermath of the housing bust and the Great Recession.

The Case-Shiller index covers roughly half of U.S. homes. The index measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The October figures are the latest available.

"Home prices in October continued to cool as the leaves changed, nearly flat on a monthly basis," said Bill Banfield, vice president for Quicken Loans. "Yearly increases are still slowing at a manageable 4.6% growth, much healthier and more sustainable than the double-digit increases we had seen in years past."

Contributing: Associated Press