S.D. only city with 12 months of home price increases

By Jennifer Davies, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 3:22 p.m.

San Diego is the only metro area in the nation with 12 months of consecutive home price increases, according to the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index released Tuesday.

San Diego housing prices rose 11.7 percent in April compared to a year ago. That’s the second fastest rate of annual increase behind only San Francisco, which saw home prices rise 18 percent, said the widely watched index of housing prices. On a monthly basis, prices in San Diego increased 0.7 percent from March to April.

Prices in the 20 metro areas that the index tracks increased 0.8 percent from March to April, and were up 3.8 percent compared to a year ago.

While the numbers seem to be improving, economists say it is too early to celebrate.

“Many of the gains are modest and somewhat concentrated in California. Moreover, nine of the 20 cities reached new lows at some time since the beginning of this year,â€