Home Prices Up in Major Metros for 10th Consecutive Month - Home Prices, Housing Data, Economic Conditions - Builder Magazine

Home Prices Up in Major Metros for 10th Consecutive Month - Home Prices, Housing Data, Economic Conditions - Builder Magazine

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices were up on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis in November, though cities saw some seasonal slowdown.  

“Housing is clearly recovering.” That was the conclusion made by David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in response to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices’ November reading, released today.

While both the 10- and 20-city composites posted monthly declines, falling 0.2% and 0.1% respectively, the drops were caused by seasonal factors. Once seasonally adjusted, the two composites showed improvements of 0.5% and 0.6% compared with October, and seasonally adjusted prices were higher in 19 of the 20 metros tracked.

Year over year, the 10-city was up 4.5% and the 20-city gained 5.5%. Phoenix far outperformed any other metro area tracked with a 22.8% price jump compared with the previous year, while New York registered the only year-over-year decline with a fall of 1.2%.

The widespread improvements are stemming from three major factors, according to Patrick Newport and Stephanie Karol, economists at IHS Global Insight, who attributed the gains to economic growth and improvements in the job market; falling inventories of for-sale homes as replacement demand and demand from newly formed households outpaces starts; and low interest rates. “These three drivers will keep home prices moving up in 2013.”