Warmer weather heats up U.S. housing prices

After sinking to their lowest crisis level in March, national housing prices posted modest gains in April, according to the latest Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index released today. The 20-city composite jumped 0.7 percent from March’s seasonally adjusted rate, and the index now stands at 138.84 where an index of 100 equals home prices in January 2000. Housing prices in April 2011 are roughly where they stood during the summer of 2003, and remain 4 percent below the 20-city composite in April 2010. “In a welcome shift from recent months, this month is better than last – April’s numbers beat March,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices. “However, the seasonally adjusted numbers show that much of the improvement reflects the beginning of the Spring-Summer home buying season. It is much too early to tell if this is a turning point or simply due to some warmer weather.” Washington, D.C. had the strongest month of any city, gaining 2 percent on seasonally-adjusted prices, while Detroit’s prices fell another 1.8 percent, bringing the city’s index to a paltry 62.74. The report confirms CoreLogic’s findings earlier this month, which showed stabilizing prices in April. – Adam Fusfeld