Case-Shiller says that both Dallas andrnDenver “reached record levels surpassing their pre-financial crisis peaks setrnin June 2007 and August 2006.   This isrnthe first time any city has made a new all-time high.”  Neither city had particularly strong annualrnincreases in their Case-Shiller numbers; Dallas was up 7.6 percent and Denverrn9.7 percent, but neither city suffered the type of price declines experiencedrnin other southwest and western cities, thus giving them a bit of an edge in thernrecovery.  The other two cities which LPSrnreported had posted new price peaks were Austin and Houston, neither of whichrnis among the 20 cities tracked by Case Shiller.</p

Both the 10-City and 20-City Compositesrnposted the best year-over-year returns since March 2006.  The 10-City increased 11.8 percent from Mayrn2012 and the 20-City was up 12.2 percent. rn</p

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David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the IndexrnCommittee at S&P Dow Jones Indices said, “Home prices continue tornstrengthen.  Two cities set new highsrnsurpassing their pre-crisis levels and five cities – Atlanta, Chicago, SanrnDiego, San Francisco, and Seattle – posted monthly gains of over three percent,rnalso a first time event.” </p

All 20 cities posted bothrnmonth-over-month and annual increases with two metropolitan areas having doublerndigit annual increases.  The Southwestrnand the West showed the strongest annual performances; San Francisco gained 24.5rnpercent on the index, Las Vegas a 23.3 percent, and Phoenix 20.6 percent.  At the other extreme, New York (+3.3 percent),rnCleveland (+3.4 percent) and Washington, D.C. (+6.5 percent) had the weakestrngains and two cities, Cleveland and Minneapolis, were down slightly afterrnseasonal adjustments.  </p

“The overall report points to somernshifts among various markets,” Blitzer said. rn”Washington, DC is no longer the standout leader and the eastern Sunbeltrncities, Miami and Tampa, are lagging behind their western counterparts.”  </p

As stated, all 20 cities had positivernmonthly returns in May but ten cities showed an acceleration in their monthlyrngains.  Chicago had an increase of 3.7rnpercent in May compared to 2.7 percent in April while Miami and Seattle hadrntheir largest monthly increases since August 2005 and April 1990 respectively.</p