Home price index rises 0.6% in July from June

Updated 22m ago

NEW YORK (AP) — Home prices rose in July for a fourth month, but many cities are bracing for declines in the year ahead.

The price increases were fueled by now-expired homebuyer tax credits. With the peak buying season over, a record number of foreclosures, job concerns and weak demand from buyers are pushing prices down.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index released Tuesday rose 0.6% in July from June and 3.2% from a year ago. Twelve cities showed monthly price gains; Cleveland's prices were flat.

Seven cities showed declines in July from June, and the gains in many cities were weaker than the previous month.

The biggest monthly price increases were in Detroit, New York and Washington. All three cities had increases of roughly 1%.

Las Vegas and Phoenix had the largest declines: 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively.

Nationally, the price index is up almost 7% from the April 2009 bottom. But it remains nearly 28% below its July 2006 peak.

This summer's sales of previously occupied homes was the slowest in more than a decade. Most experts predict about 5 million homes will be sold this year. That would be in line with last year and just above 2008, the worst sales performance since 1997.

The latest Case-Shiller price index results:

Metro area July index Change from June Change from July 2009

Atlanta 109.92 0.2% -0.2%

Boston 158.83 0.6% 2.8%

Charlotte 117.03 -0.2% -3.5%

Chicago 126.17 1.0% -1.7%

Cleveland 107.31 0.0% -0.6%

Dallas 120.75 -0.3% -0.4%

Denver 128.72 -0.4% -0.1%

Detroit 71.17 1.6% 1.3%

Las Vegas 100.91 -0.8% -4.9%

Los Angeles 176.27 0.3% 7.5%

Miami 147.88 0.7% 0.4%

Minneapolis 127.01 0.8% 6.4%

New York 174.9 1.3% 0.6%

Phoenix 110.3 -0.6% 3.4%

Portland 148.33 -0.3% -1.2%

San Diego 165.02 0.7% 9.3%

San Francisco 143.23 0.5% 11.2%

Seattle 147.04 0.1% -1.6%

Tampa 138.24 -0.2% -3.2%

Washington 187.98 1.1% 6.5%

Composite-20 148.91 0.6% 3.2%

The indexes 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 in the market.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/h ... ices_N.htm