Both home price indices measured by Standard & Poor’s show home prices rising from June to July, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller report.
The 10-city composite index shows prices increasing 1.5% from June to July, while the 20-city composite index grew 1.6% during the same period.
This is the third consecutive month in which all 20 cities measured by the index and both composites saw prices rise over the prior month.
This would have been the fourth straight month with a rise in prices, but values fell in Detroit back in April, throwing those numbers off a bit.
The 10- and 20-city composite indices posted annual increases of 0.6% and 1.2%, respectively.
Meanwhile, individual cities such as Dallas and Washington, D.C., reported virtually no changes in their prices year-over-year, while Cleveland, Detroit and New York saw their annual prices decline.
Atlanta, an area hit hard by the foreclosure crisis, declined as well but saw its annual price decrease improve to -9.9% after nine months of double-digit declines. Yet, it is still the worst of the 20 cities followed by S&P.
“The news on home prices in this report confirm recent good news about housing,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Single-family housing starts are well ahead of last year’s pace, existing home sales are up, the inventory of homes for sale is down and foreclosure activity is slowing. All in all, we are more optimistic about housing.”
