David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee atrnS&P Dow Jones Indices said all 20 cities continue to show solid increasesrnin home prices.  “The 10- and 20-CityrnComposites recorded their highest annual growth rates since May 2006;rnseasonally adjusted monthly data show all 20 cities saw higher prices for twornmonths in a row – the last time that happened was in early 2005. </p

“Phoenix, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Atlanta werernthe four cities with the highest year-over-year price increases.  Atlanta recovered from a wave of foreclosuresrnin 2012 while the other three were among the hardest hit in the housingrncollapse.  At the other end of thernrankings, three older cities – New York, Boston, and Chicago – saw the smallestrnyear-over-year price improvements,” Blitzer said.</p

Home prices for both city composites are back tornautumn 2003 levels.  Measured from theirrnJune/July 2006 peaks each of the composites show a decline of approximately 29-30rnpercent while the 10-City has recovered from its early 2012 low by 8.7 percentrnand the 20-City recovery is 9.3 percent. </p

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Blitzer said the despite the mixed economic news inrnMarch, “housing continues to be one of the brighter spots in the economy.  The 2013 first quarter GDP report shows thatrnresidential investment accelerated from the 2012 fourth quarter and made a positiverncontribution to growth.  One openrnquestion is the mix of single family and apartments; housing data show a largerrnthan usual share is apartments.”</p

The S&P Home Price Indices are constructed torntrack the price path of a typical single-family home located in each of thernmetropolitan areas tracked.  Each indexrncombines matched price pairs for thousands of individual houses fromrnarmed-length sales data.  The indicesrnhave a base value of 100 in January 2000 so a house with an index value of 150rnhas had a 50 percent increase in value since that data.

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