By Phil Izzo
The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home-price index, a closely watched gauge of U.S. home prices, rose 1.2% in August from July in the fourth straight monthly increase, but prices remain below year-earlier levels.
For the 17th straight month, no area in the 20-city index posted a year-over-year price gain. That put nationwide prices at levels seen in 2003.
The index isn’t seasonally adjusted, and home prices are benefiting from the traditional increase seen in the spring and summer months. But even taking the usual bump into account, the numbers indicate some stability in the market. “The activity in this spring is far greater than what we’ve seen in recent years,” said Dan Greenhaus of Miller Tabak & Co.
Some economists aren’t convinced the gains are sustainable. “While many are interpreting the most recent results from this index as indicative of a bottom in home prices, we do not believe this to be the case,” said Joshua Shapiro of MFR, Inc. “Rather, this is probably a correction after unsustainable 2%-3% per month declines recorded over the autumn and winter months when the overall economy was in free-fall. Demand stimulated by the $8000 first-time homebuyer tax credit has also likely played an important role.”
Seventeen of the 20 areas — all but Cleveland, Charlotte and Las Vegas — saw monthly price gains in August. Minneapolis posted the strongest monthly increase at 3.2%, but prices there remain more than 13% below August 2008 levels.
Las Vegas fared the worst, not only posting a monthly decline but the largest year-to-year decline amid the 20 cities. Phoenix managed post another a monthly increase but was still seeing annual declines in excess of 25%.
Below, see data from the 20 metro areas Case-Shiller tracks, sortable by name, level, monthly change and year-over-year change — just click the column headers to re-sort.
(About the numbers: The Case Shiller indices have a base value of 100 in January 2000. So a current index value of 150 translates to a 50% appreciation rate since January 2000 for a typical home located within the metro market.)
Home Prices, by Metro Area
| Metro Area | May 2009 | Change from April | Year-over-year change |
| Atlanta | 111.19 | 1.0% | -10.6% |
| Boston | 155.95 | 0.9% | -4.2% |
| Charlotte | 120.72 | -0.4% | -8.6% |
| Chicago | 130.55 | 1.7% | -12.7% |
| Cleveland | 107.42 | -0.5% | -2.8% |
| Dallas | 121.44 | 0.2% | -1.2% |
| Denver | 130.07 | 1.0% | -1.9% |
| Detroit | 71.59 | 1.9% | -22.6% |
| Las Vegas | 105.78 | -0.3% | -29.9% |
| Los Angeles | 166.52 | 1.6% | -12.0% |
| Miami | 148.91 | 1.1% | -18.8% |
| Minneapolis | 122.66 | 3.2% | -13.7% |
| New York | 174.89 | 0.5% | -9.6% |
| Phoenix | 108.41 | 1.6% | -25.1% |
| Portland | 150.46 | 0.3% | -12.5% |
| San Diego | 153.34 | 1.6% | -8.9% |
| San Francisco | 132.47 | 2.8% | -12.5% |
| Seattle | 149.54 | 0.1% | -14.7% |
| Tampa | 143.43 | 0.4% | -17.7% |
| Washington | 178.84 | 1.4% | -7.9% |
Source: Standard & Poor’s and FiservData
