September 26, 2012 (Chris Moore)
Average home prices in the twenty cities that make up the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices improved for the third consecutive month from June to July while sixteen cities showed improvement compared to a year ago.
The 10-City Composite showed a 1.5 percent increase in monthly average home prices while the 20-City Composite posted a 1.6 percent gain. Minneapolis posted the largest monthly gain of 3.7 percent followed by Detroit at 3.3 percent and Chicago with a 2.7 percent monthly increase.
Compared to July of last year, the 10-City Composite was up 0.6 percent while the 20-City Composite improved 1.2 percent. Phoenix was the only city to post a double digit gain over last year, improving by 16.9 percent. Minneapolis followed with an annual gain of 6.4 percent with Detroit close behind with a gain of 6.2 percent.
Atlanta continued to have the largest annual decline but finally broke into the single digits with a 9.9 percent annual decline. New York, Las Vegas and Chicago were the only other cities to see a decline, all posting declines of less than three percent.
Not accounting for inflation, average home prices across the United States are back at the same levels they were in the summer and fall of 2003.
From their peak in June/July 2006, index levels for both the 10-City and the 20 City Composites have declined almost 30 percent.
Three MSAs, Atlanta, Detroit and Las Vegas, continued to see average prices that are below their January 2000 levels.
Tags: S&P, Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, 10-City Composite, 20-City Composite, home prices
