USA Today
NEW YORK (AP) — A widely watched index shows home prices posted their first monthly increase since the summer of 2006, indicating prices are finally stabilizing.
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 major cities released Tuesday rose 0.5% from April, but was still 17.1% below May a year ago.
The 10-city index rose 0.4% from April, but was off 16.8% from May last year. It was the fourth consecutive month both indexes didn’t post record annual decline. Home prices are now at levels not seen since mid-2003.
“The pace of descent in home price value appears to be slowing,” said David Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s. “This is the first time we have seen broad increases in home prices in 34 months. This could be an indication that home price declines are finally stabilizing.”
“While many indicators are showing signs of life in the housing market, we should remember that on a year-over-year basis home prices are still down about 17% on average across all metro areas, so we likely do have a way to go before we see sustained home price appreciation,” he said.
|
Metropolitan area |
May 2009 index |
Change from April |
Change from May 2008 |
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Atlanta |
105.69 |
0.3% |
-15.0% |
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|
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Boston |
148.77 |
1.6% |
-7.2% |
|
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|
Charlotte |
119.80 |
0.9% |
-10.0% |
|
|
|||
|
Chicago |
123.68 |
1.1% |
-17.5% |
|
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|||
|
Cleveland |
102.11 |
4.1% |
-6.2% |
|
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|||
|
Dallas |
116.54 |
1.9% |
-4.1% |
|
|
|||
|
Denver |
123.78 |
1.3% |
-4.6% |
|
|
|||
|
Detroit |
70.05 |
0.2% |
-24.5% |
|
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|
Las Vegas |
109.49 |
-2.6% |
-32.0% |
|
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|
Los Angeles |
159.18 |
-0.1% |
-19.8% |
|
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|
Miami |
144.59 |
-0.8% |
-25.2% |
|
|
|||
|
Minneapolis |
109.77 |
1.2% |
-21.7% |
|
|
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|
New York |
170.51 |
0.0% |
-12.2% |
|
|
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|
Phoenix |
103.56 |
-0.9% |
-34.2% |
|
|
|||
|
Portland |
146.97 |
0.1% |
-16.3% |
|
|
|||
|
San Diego |
145.06 |
0.4% |
-18.5% |
|
|
|||
|
San Francisco |
120.16 |
1.4% |
-26.1% |
|
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|
Seattle |
148.96 |
-0.3% |
-16.6% |
|
|
|||
|
Tampa |
140.35 |
0.0% |
-20.8% |
|
|
|||
|
Washington |
169.49 |
1.3% |
-14.9% |
|
|
|||
|
20-city composite index |
139.84 |
0.5% |
-17.1% |
|
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|
Source: Standard & Poor’s and Fiserv |
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The index has a base value of 100 in January 2000; so a current index value of 150 translates to a 50% appreciation rate since January 2000 for a typical home.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.