U.S. home prices rose 4.3 percent year-over-year, according to the S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Index released today, but New York City was one of only two markets where home prices declined year-over-year — with the market seeing a 1.2 percent year-over-year decrease, and a 0.4 percent month-over-month decrease. The index declined a modest 0.1 percent in October, from the previous month…. [more]

Click to enlarge

U.S. home prices rose for the sixth consecutive month in September, according to the S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Index released today, but New York City was one of only two markets where home prices declined year-over-year.

The national composite of home prices gained 3.6 percent year-over-year from the third quarter of 2011, returning to levels seen in mid-2003. “With six months of consistently rising home prices, it is safe to say that we are now in the midst of a recovery in the housing market,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, the publisher of the index. [more]

The S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Index climbed for the seventh consecutive month. It was up 0.9 percent — a sign of continued improvement in the health of the market for single family homes in the United States. The uptick was slightly larger than economists had predicted, according to the report cited by Reuters.

Prices in the 20 cities measured by the index climbed 2 percent year-over-year, Reuters reported. The numbers were released today.  [more]

In February, the housing market showed mixed signals, with annual declines of 3.6 and 3.5 percent for the 10- and 20-city composites, respectively, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price indices for January, released today. Of the 20 metropolitan statistical areas the survey covered, 15 showed better annual returns in February compared to January, however, nine metropolitan statistical areas — Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Las Vegas, New York, Portland, Seattle and Tampa — hit new post-crisis lows, according to the report. [more]

Click image to enlargeThe Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index hit the housing industry with a double dose of bad news in a report released today. Not only did the report show a decline 0.6 percent in September compared to August in the 20 cities covered, but August’s index was downwardly revised to show a price decline in that month as well, despite a previously reported uptick.

The national index rose just 0.1 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2011 from the level recorded in the second quarter. Further the index reported an annual price decline of 3.9 percent, a slight improvement from the second quarter year-over-year decline of 5.8 percent. – Adam Fusfeld… [more]

For the fifth consecutive month, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller
Home Price Index rose in August, indicating slight increases in
nationwide home prices. The 10-city and 20-city composites inched up
about 0.2 percent on a non-seasonally-adjusted basis over the previous
month, but remained unchanged when accounting for seasonal changes. The
20-city composite now stands at 142.84, 3.8 percent less than its August
2010 reading of 148.89.
The index is calibrated so that a score of 100 equals housing prices in January 2000. It peaked at 206.52 in July 2006.
Half of the 20 metropolitan areas polled showed increased housing prices
on a month-over-month basis, while 16 of them posted better annual
returns than they did in July.  – Adam Fusfeld… [more]

National home prices are continuing to exhibit seasonal strength, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices’ data through July, released today. This marks the fourth consecutive month of increases for 10- and 20-city composites, with both up 0.9 percent in July over June. Both indices are back to their summer 2003 levels.

“With July’s data, we are seeing not only anticipated monthly increases, but some fairly broad improvement in the annual sales rates of change in home prices,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee. “This is still a seasonal period of stronger demand for houses, so monthly price increased are expected and were seen in 17 of the 20 cities [in the report].” – Katherine Clarke… [more]

Source: Case-Schiller

U.S. national home prices are back to 2003 levels, having increased by 3.6 percent in the second quarter of 2011, after falling 4.1 percent in the first quarter of 2011, according to data released today by S&P Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. Prices still posted an annual decline of 5.9 percent versus the second quarter of 2010. “This month’s report showed mixed signals for recovery in home prices. No cities made new lows in June 2011, and the majority of cities are seeing improved annual rates,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index committee. “As with May’s report, June showed unusually large revisions across the same [Metropolitan Statistical Areas] — Detroit, New York, Tampa and Washington DC. -- Katherine Clarke… [more]

There has been a month-over-month decrease in national default rates for first and second mortgages, with second mortgage default rates dropping from 1.4 percent to 1.25 percent in July, according to Consumer Credit Default Indices by Standard & Poors/ Experian.

First mortgage and bank card default rates decreased to 1.93 percent and 5.64 percent from June rates of 2.02 percent and 5.69 percent, respectively. Auto loan default rates dropped slightly from 1.29 percent in June to 1.27 percent in July.

“By and large, July’s data support the downward trend we have observed over the past two years. Despite high unemployment rates, consumers continue to improve their financial positions, resulting in lower default rates than we were seeing during the recession,” said David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee. “All indices show default rates well below where they were in 2008 and 2009.” – Katherine Clarke… [more]

For the first time in 11 months, U.S. housing prices increased month-over-month for a second consecutive time in May 2011, according to the latest data from the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index released today. The 20-city composite rose 1 percent from April to 140.95 — roughly the equivalent to housing prices earlier in the recession, in May 2009, and before the peak in June 2003; all metropolitan areas excepting Detroit, Las Vegas, Tampa and Phoenix posted housing price gains. Despite the modest price increases, the 20-city index is 4.5 percent below where it stood in May 2010, as 19 of the metropolitan areas posted losses, led by Minneapolis, Phoneix, Portland, Tampa and Detroit where prices plummeted at least 9 percent. Only Washington, D.C. posted a year-over-year gain, as prices rose 1.3 percent. — Adam Fusfeld… [more]