For the third month in a row, Denver-area home prices showed a year-over-year increase in January, according to the latest S&P/
Case-Shiller Home Prices Index.
Out of 20 U.S. cities in the closely watched report from Standard & Poor’s, released Tuesday, Denver was one of nine that showed a year-over-year increase in prices.
Denver-area home prices were 2.6 percent higher in January 2010 than in January 2009. That followed a 1.2 percent year-over-year increase in December and a 0.5 percent gain in November.
However, prices slipped 1.3 percent in January from December 2009.
November’s rise was the first year-over-year home price increase in the Denver area since November 2006, according to a Denver Business Journal analysis of Case-Shiller data. Between those months, Denver had 36 straight months of year-over-year price declines.
Denver’s home price index was 125.59 in January, meaning that a typical home in the area was worth nearly 26 percent more than in January 2000, which is the index’s base year.
Nationwide, the Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index declined 0.7 percent year over year, while the 10-City Composite Home Price index was flat. This is the nearest that either index has come to positive territory since January 2007, three years ago, according to S&P.
“The report is mixed,” David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s, said in a news release. “While we continue to see improvements in the year-over-year data for all 20 cities, the rebound in housing prices seen last fall is fading. Fewer cities experienced month-to-month gains in January than in December 2009, on both a seasonally adjusted and unadjusted basis. Moreover, in four cities — Charlotte, Las Vegas, Seattle and Tampa — prices reached new lows following the financial crisis.”
Other recent housing data also paint a mixed picture, Blitzer said.
“Housing starts continue at extremely low levels, recent reports of home sales suggest the market remains difficult, and concerns remain about further foreclosures and a large shadow inventory of unsold homes,” Blitzer said. “We are in a seasonally weak part of the year, but given the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price data reported today, we can’t say we’re out of the woods yet.”
Click here to download the latest Case-Shiller report. -
rmcgaw@bizjournals.com