Local Housing Prices Increased From April to May

The regional housing price index rose nearly 1 percent between April and May, according to the monthly Standard & Poor's Case-Schiller Housing Price Indices.

Local prices climbed 0.9 percent in May, but were down 1.1 percent compared to May 2011.

S&P took the median housing price in 20 major U.S. cities in January 2000, assigned them a value of 100, and tracked their rise and fall.

San Diego's mark in May was 153.06, representing a 53 percent appreciation in home values over about a dozen years. That's the fourth biggest increase in the country, behind Washington, D.C., New York City and Los Angeles.

The 20-city index was at 138.96 in May, up 2.2 percent for the month but 0.7 percent lower over one year.

“With May's data, we saw a continuing trend of rising home prices for the spring,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

He said all 20 index cities had higher prices in May, compared to the previous month. A dozen showed annual increases.

“We have observed two consecutive months of increasing home prices and overall improvements in monthly and annual returns,” Blitzer said. “However, we need to remember that spring and early summer are seasonally strong buying months so this trend must continue throughout the summer and into the fall.”

The only cities below their starting point of 100 were Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit and Las Vegas.

– City News Service