Home prices improved in the third quarter of 2009, posting their second quarter-over-quarter gain in three years, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, released yesterday.
The index, which covers all nine U.S. census divisions, recorded an 8.9 percent decline in the third quarter of 2009 compared with the third quarter of 2008, but an improvement over the 14.7 percent decline in the second quarter of the year. The 10-City and 20-City Composites recorded annual declines of 8.5 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively. These two indices generally have seen improvements in their annual rates of return every month since the beginning of the year.
“We have seen broad improvement in home prices for most of the past six months,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s. “The U.S. National Composite rose by 3.1 percent in both the second and third quarters of 2009. Both the 10-City and 20-City Composites posted their fifth consecutive monthly increase with September’s report. However, the gains in the most recent month are more modest than during the seasonally strong summer months.”
-- source: California Association of REALTORS®
