U.S. home prices rose for the second straight month in May, according to Dow Jones' latest S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. On average, prices increased 2.2 percent in May over April.
U.S. home prices rose for the second straight month in May, according to Dow Jones' latest S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. On average, prices increased 2.2 percent in May over April.
On an annualized basis, home prices fell by 1.0 percent for the 10-city composite and by 0.7 percent for the 20-city composite versus May 2011. All 20 cities and both composites posted positive monthly returns, with 17 of those cities seeing their rate of change increase compared with April.
Boston, Charlotte and Detroit were the three cities that saw their annual returns worsen in May. Atlanta continues to be the only city posting a double-digit negative annual return at -14.5 percent; however, this is an improvement over the -17.0 percent annual decline recorded in April 2012. As of May, average home prices across the U.S. are back to their spring 2003 levels for the 20-city composite and summer 2003 levels for the 10-city composite.
"With May's data, we saw a continuing trend of rising home prices for the spring," says David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. While still negative," Blitzer said of the year-over-year numbers, "these annual changes are the best we've seen in at least 18 months."