• Case Shiller data for April is out today.  The data shows that house prices in the areas covered by the 20-city index improved by 0.7 percent for the month—the first monthly improvement since July 2010.  Prices fell 4 percent for the year by this measure.
  • 13 of 20 cities saw improvement in the monthly data for April.  Only Washington DC saw an improvement in prices in the year according to Case Shiller.  By comparison, 6 of the 9 US census divisions had home price increases in April according to FHFA data.
  • Case Shiller is the last to release April data, which is actually an average of information from February, March, and April.  Still, Case Shiller’s index falls right in the middle of other data series in April. Series like NAR’s median home price, released last week, show even better performance in May.
  • For a fuller comparison of the information in various house price series, check out NAR’s House Price Monitor which has been updated to reflect this new information.
  • The near one percent gain in a single month is quite large (translating into 8 percent gain on an annualized basis) and may just be the beginning of a true home price recovery for the country.
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