Home prices show 12-month gains

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

U.S. home prices finally are starting to increase consistently.

A gauge of national home prices rose in June compared with the same month last year, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller index released Tuesday. The year-over-year increase was the first since September 2010, a year when housing benefited temporarily from a federal home-buying tax credit.

The report also noted that all 20 major metro areas by the S&P/Case Shiller index posted gains in June from May. That’s the second straight month in which prices rose in every city measured.

“I think we have turned the corner on prices,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the S&P’s index committee. “It looks very good.”

A decline in foreclosures and the lowest mortgage rates in decades have helped some of the cities hardest hit by the housing bust. Prices have surged nearly 14 percent, for example, in the Phoenix area in the 12 months that ended in June. In Miami, they’ve risen 4.4 percent.

The steadiness of the price increases is helping bolster a nascent housing recovery that began earlier this year. Last week, the National Association of Realtors said sales of previously occupied homes jumped 10 percent in July compared with the same month last year.