Is housing finally back? Standard & Poor's reported Tuesday that its 20-city house price index rose in June for the third consecutive month, sparking hopes that home values have finally turned the corner.
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In addition, there were only six cities where price changes were negative on an annual basis: Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and San Diego, noted S&P index committee chairman David Blitzer.
“We seem to be witnessing exactly what we needed for a sustained recovery—monthly increases with improving annual rates of change,” Blitzer said. “The market may have finally turned around.”
Overall, the 20-city index is up 0.5% from June 2011.
In a separate report, home values rose nearly 0.7% from May to June, according to an HPI based on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchase mortgage transactions.
It marks the fifth consecutive monthly increase by the purchase-only index published by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The seasonally adjusted HPI rose 1.8 % in the second quarter following a 0.9% increase in the first quarter.
The S&P Case-Shiller HPI rose 0.9% in the second quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis and 1% in the first quarter.
