Tulsa World: Home prices rise for 4th month in a row

MAKE US YOUR HOMEPAGE | Tuesday, February 09, 2010 | WIRELESS

Home > Business

Comment

RSS

Bookmark

Home prices rise for 4th month in a row

A sign for a newly-constructed home advertises a financing rate in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Home prices rose slightly in September, the fourth straight monthly increases and a clear sign that the housing market's recovery is continuing.

By ALAN ZIBEL AP Real Estate Writer
Published: 11/24/2009 9:42 AM
Last Modified: 11/24/2009 11:06 AM

WASHINGTON — Home prices rose slightly in September, the fourth straight monthly increase and a clear sign the housing market recovery is continuing.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 major cities released Tuesday rose 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted reading of 144.96 in September. Prices rose month-over-month in 11 metro areas, a weaker showing than in recent months.

Compared with a year earlier, prices were down 9.4 percent, the smallest year over year decline since January 2008.

"We have seen broad improvement in home prices for most of the past six months," David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Standard & Poor's index committee. "However, the gains in the most recent month are more modest than during the seasonally strong summer months."

Prices, as measured by the seasonally adjusted 20-city index, are up more than 3 percent from the bottom in May. But they are still down 30 percent from the peak in April 2006.

Rising home prices are a key ingredient to rebuilding the economy. Homeowners feel wealthier when their property appreciates in value and are more likely to spend money. Rising prices also help millions of homeowners who owe more to the bank than their homes are worth.

Industry experts, however, still worry that rising unemployment and foreclosures could stifle the rebound in prices, causing them to dip again. "While many are interpreting the most recent results from this index as indicative of a bottom in home prices, we do not believe this to be the case," wrote Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc.

By ALAN ZIBEL AP Real Estate Writer

Comment

RSS

Bookmark

Reader Comments

Show: Most Recent Comment First

Add your comment

4 comments have been made on this story so far. Tell us what you think below!

Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you. -- Web Editor Jason Collington

	Report Comment Daven, Tulsa (11/24/2009 9:55:56 AM) lets keep this going.....Im planning on selling my house in the spring! lol!
	Report Comment Generic, Tulsa (11/24/2009 1:37:08 PM) "_the 3rd Man_" you obviousely don't know what you are talking about. When the US Dollar drops commodity prices increase. Housing is also a commodity and a real physical asset, thus it will also increase if the US Dollar drops. The value of the US Dollar is a big problem and by the way, the conservative Republican George W. Bush administration intentionally wanted a low dollar so they could fund the war with loans and pay back with money worth less, also they wanted a lower dollar to buy votes from industrial US (a low dollar helps US industry in the short-term). But a low Dollar causes house prices to rise (inflation) it also lowers our standard of living. Republicans want this (increase spending without increasing taxes). Obama is not doing a good job on this either, but George W Bush definitely started it about 8 years ago...
	Report Comment Generic, Tulsa (11/24/2009 5:21:35 PM) I agree with most of your points, execpt in your earlier post you indicated that housing prices would fall bacuse the dollar is falling. I think housing prices would increase (although I agree that the increase is based on a lower valued currency, but that's the only thing we have). You may not agree with Clinton but he made the middle class stronger and reduced the federal government (100,000 fewer government workers), turned the economy around and actually reduced the deficit. GWB cut taxes for the whealty and created a massive federal deficit, intentianally cut the value of the US Dollar (check any exchange rate charts). Obama is continuing on a somewhat samilar path, but I would say that his intentions are to improve the lives of Americans (i.e. health care) instead of borrowing 1 Trillion dollars to fund a war on a country that we didn't need to attack). Also, I think Obama wants to pay for his spending thru tax increases. I'll take that any day before trying to borrow our way out of the GWB mess.
	Report Comment confederateU, (11/24/2009 5:30:27 PM) GREAT - here comes the tax ASSessors office looking for their extra. As if tulsa taxes aren't high enough already. Oh, and don't forget, if you are in the market to buy a home - Just tell your realtor HOA NO WAY!! Nothing encroaches on your pocketbook more than buying into an HOA and especially those gated communes because of potentially out of control and unlimited HOA dues increases year after year and then SURPRISE, special assessments you can't afford, etc. etc. etc. And if you can't pay, you pay with your home and/or equity! Private streets, pools, parks, and other HOA laden infrastructure are nothing more than LIABILITIES! YOu are better off with an older traditional single family home where you own EVERYTHING - even the ground it sits on.

Add Your Comment
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.