IAS360 reports U.S. home prices jumped 1.6 percent in May.(Briefing Book)(Statistical data)

Denver-based Integrated Asset Services LLC (IAS) said all four U.S. Census regions reported positive home-price numbers for May, with the Northeast leading the way with a price gain of 3.2 percent. The company's IAS360[TM] home-price index (HPI) for May activity was released on July 14, and it found that U.S. home prices gained 1.6 percent in May.

A release announcing the results said the May performance "reflects the largest one-month increase in the IAS360 HPI since July of 2005." The index reported a fractional gain for home prices in April.

U.S. house prices are still down 10.5 percent year-over-year, according to the IAS360 HPI. The Northeast region led the gains, while the Midwest followed at 1.9 percent, the South was next (up 1.1 percent) and the West last (up 0.9 percent).

The index found price gains in May for nine of the nation's 10 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). Denver posted a gain of 0.4 percent in May. Boston saw price gains of 3.7 percent, while Chicago home prices jumped by 1.5 percent in May. San Francisco also saw strong price gains, rising by 3 percent in May, according to IAS360. However, Las Vegas saw home prices slip by 0.9 percent in May.

"Two months' worth of positive data hardly signals a turn in the national housing market," said Dave McCarthy, IAS' president and chief executive officer, "but we have to be encouraged by what we're seeing in several important counties and neighborhoods." He added that 42 percent of all closings for May were investor sales.

McCarthy cautioned, however, "With all of the political and regulatory uncertainties combined with rising unemployment and foreclosure inventories, it's too soon to speculate that a housing recovery is really here."

In an interview with Mortgage Banking, McCarthy said, "The data are pretty telling--this data set made me really stop." He said that even parts of Florida had showed some improvement. He added that in pockets of the Phoenix market they were seeing some positive signs, but in Las Vegas not so much.

"Even parts of California are seeing stabilization--San Diego being one of them," McCarthy said. He cautioned that we would need to see what happens next month (June index readings) before drawing major conclusions. He said it is too early to declare us out of the woods. But McCarthy added, "If I had some money, I'd go out and buy in the Denver market."

The IAS360 HPI is a comprehensive housing index tracking monthly changes in the median sales price for detached single-family residences across the country. The index is based on arm's-length transactions and tracks data for 15,000 neighborhoods that roll up to provide a report on the changes in 360 counties, nine census divisions, four regions and nationally.

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