U.S. May Case-Shiller home prices up 0.5%
Tuesday July 28th, 2009
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. home prices rose in May on a month-to-month basis for the first time since July 2006, according to the national Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday. On a month-to-month basis, prices in 20 selected cities rose 0.5% in May, with increases in 13 cities, compared with a decline of 0.6% in April. "This could be an indication that home price declines are finally stabilizing," said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee for
Standard & Poor's, which compiles the Case-Shiller index. On an annual basis, U.S. home prices fell in May, but overall annual declines are slowing. U.S. home prices were down 17.1% in the year ended May. This is slower than the 18.1% drop in April. The annual index has shown four straight months of improvement after 16 straight months of record declines from October 2007 until January 2009. Seventeen of the 20 metro areas saw improvements in their annual returns compared to April. "There is a clear inflection point in the year-over-year data, due to four consecutive months of improved rates of return, after the steep decline that began in the fall of 2005," Blitzer said. "While many indicators are showing signs of life in the U.S. 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," Blitzer said.
