US home prices climbing steadily amid stronger demand - Yahoo Finance: "The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 4.9 percent in April from 12 months earlier, roughly the same annual pace as March, S&P Dow Jones Indices said Tuesday.
Strong job growth and low mortgage rates have prompted greater demand for housing, boosting home values. But the continued gains are at roughly double the pace of wage growth, potentially pricing out many would-be buyers.
"Home prices continue to rise across the country, but the pace is not accelerating," said David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Prices in the Denver metro areas climbed 10.3 percent, while home values in San Francisco rose 10 percent. Values increased more than 7.5 percent in Dallas, Miami, Seattle and Tampa. But price growth was tepid in the Boston, Cleveland and Washington, DC areas, where prices were up by 1.8 percent or less.
The Case-Shiller index covers roughly half of U.S. homes. The index measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The April figures are the latest available.
Other measures are showing faster increased in prices, reflecting a shortage of homes available in the market.
May sales figures from the National Association of Realtors found that median home prices increased 7.9 percent over the past 12 months to $228,700, about $1,700 shy of the July 2006 peak.
The market has just 5.1 months' supply of homes, versus an average of six months in a healthy market.
Driving much of the growth has been a steady improvement in job growth and relatively low mortgage rates."
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