“We have seen broad improvement in home prices for most of the past six months,” says David Blitzer, chairman of S&P’s Index Committee. “However, the gains in the most recent month are more modest than during the seasonally strong summer months. Fewer cities saw month-to-month improvements in September than in August in both seasonally adjusted and unadjusted figures.”

S&P’s tracks two sets of housing prices, the 10-City and 20-City Composites. Both emerged from double-digit annual declines in the third quarter report, the first time in 21 months.

In the 20-City Composite, only Cleveland failed to show improvement. San Francisco and Washington, D.C., reported a sixth consecutive month of rising prices.

Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Diego were close behind with five consecutive months of positive returns.
Las Vegas remains the most depressed market in the indices. Prices there have declined for 37 consecutive months, showing a -55.4 percent decline from the high point to the low point in that city’s home prices.

Although Detroit saw positive movement, the market there is at only 73 percent of its 2000 value. That compares with Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C., which maintained values of 70 percent to 80 percent above their 2000 averages.

Source: S&P