Home Prices Improve for Eighth Straight Month

September marks the eighth consecutive month where home prices improved on a year-over-year basis, according to the Re/Max National Housing Report. Median prices were up nearly 8% over September 2011.

Home sales followed seasonal patterns and declined on a month-to-month basis between August and September, but were up 0.5% over September 2011. Re/Max said an inventory drop of 29% from September last year might have also contributed to the drop in sales from August.

"Now that the summer buying season is behind us, we can clearly see that the market made a significant rebound, and 2012 is definitely the year of the housing recovery," said Margaret Kelly, CEO of Denver-based Re/Max.

"Although we still face some serious obstacles in tight lending and shrinking inventory, we believe that the housing market will continue to recover into 2013."

Amherst Securities Group recently said home prices should hold their own in the winter months.

The median sales price from the 52 metro areas covered in the Re/Max study was $164,989 in September. This was up less than 1% from August’s median, as Re/Max noted prices peaked back in June. There were 21 markets that experienced year-over-year price gains, including Phoenix, up 33%; Miami, up 23%; Atlanta, up 23%; and Detroit, up 20%.