Home prices were up in April, according to the data released by S&P Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.
The indices determined average home prices increased 1.3% in April for both the 10- and 20-city composites. This comes after seven consecutive months of falling home prices as measured by both indices. April's data also indicates that the annual-basis home prices fell year-over-year by 2.2% for the 10-city composite and by 1.9% for the 20-city composite.
Both composites and 18 of the 20 metropolitan areas saw increases in annual returns in April compared to those published for March; only Detroit and New York fared worse in April. For the seventh consecutive month, Atlanta posted the only double-digit negative annual return at -17%, its 22nd consecutive month of negative annual returns.
‘With April 2012 data, we finally saw some rising home prices,’ says David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Indices. ‘It has been a long time since we enjoyed such broad-based gains. While one month does not make a trend, particularly during seasonally strong buying months, the combination of rising positive monthly index levels and improving annual returns is a good sign.’