Home Prices Up Nationwide in 2nd Quarter

The latest S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index shows a 2.9% increase over the 1st Quarter of 2009. Eighteen of the 20 metro areas saw improvement in their annual returns compared to those of May. Looking at the monthly data, the same 18 metro areas reported positive returns in June.

Detroit and Las Vegas are the only 2 major markets still struggling. These are the only two markets that fell in June and saw deterioration in their annual rates of return. Since their relative peaks they have fallen 54.3% and 45.3%, respectively.

Hard hit areas such as Miami, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Fransisco, and San Diego all showed positive gains over the 1st quarter, suggesting the drop in prices may be ending. The index overall is still down 14.9% from the same quarter last year.

Locally, Charlotte posted a .7% gain over the first quarter and .9% overall for the year. According to the index, Charlotte prices are still down 9.6% from a year ago.