More signs of hope for housing market

The S&P/Case-Shiller Index, a leading barometer of the U.S. housing market, recorded a slowing of the rate of decline for existing-home prices for May 2009. This is the fourth consecutive month that both the 10-city and 20-city composites showed improvement, which is being heralded as a possible turnaround for the stalled real estate market.

“The pace of descent in home price values appears to be slowing,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s. In addition to the 10-city and 20-city composites, 17 of the 20 metro areas tracked also saw improvement in their annual returns compared with those of April, Blitzer said. “To put it in perspective, “ he added, “these are the first times we have seen broad increases in home prices in 34 months. This could be an indication that home price declines are finally stabilizing.”

In year-over-year figures, home prices are still down, on average, about 17% in major metro areas. Phoenix and Las Vegas continue to be the worst off. But in month-over-month comparisons, Dallas and Denver have reported three consecutive months of positive returns. Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, San Francisco and Washington each reported two consecutive months of price increases ranging from 0.3% to 4.1%.