Housing prices improved in August for the fourth straight month in nearly all of the nation’s major metropolitan areas, the closely-watched S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed Tuesday.
The back-dated 20-city index showed that home prices improved by 1.2% in August, which was better than the 0.7% increase that economists had been looking for. Still, home prices remain down 11.3% from a year ago.
David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee, attributed the increase to home buyers continuing to take advantage of the $8,000 first-time home buyers tax credit, which is set to expire on Nov. 30. If the tax credit is not renewed and unemployment remains high, Blitzer said he believes that the index could retreat by some degree in the coming months.
“Both may have a dampening effect on home prices,” he said in a statement.
Nearly all of the major metropolitan areas saw home price improvements in August, with the exception of Las Vegas, Cleveland and Charlotte, N.C. Las Vegas saw home prices fall 0.3% in August, bringing the year-over-year decline for Las Vegas to 29.9%. Charlotte and Cleveland, both areas less impacted by the housing bubble than the rest of the nation, saw home prices fall 0.4% and 0.5% respectively.
The large San Francisco housing market saw the one of the biggest month-over-month increases, rising 2.8% in August, according to the index, but still remains down 12.5% from a year ago. Phoenix, one of the most troubled housing markets, saw home prices improve 1.6% last month, but is still down 25.1% from last year.
Home-building stocks such as Pulte Homes (PHM), KBHome (KBH) and Toll Brothers (TOL) were all moderately lower on Tuesday, along with the broader market.
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