October marked the fifth month in a row that U.S. home prices had gains despite the fact that the housing market recovery continues to be uneven with only 11 of 20 tracked metro areas showing gains.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index report released today crept up 0.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted reading of 145.36 from September to October. Compared to October of last year the index was off 7.3 percent.
The index is now up 3.4 percent from the bottom that was hit back in May, but remains almost 30 percent below the markets peak in April 2006.
The cities of Denver, Washington, Minneapolis and San Francisco had price increases for at least six months in a row, while Chicago, Tampa and Florida had their prices down by more than a percent from September. Sadly, there seems to be no bottom in Las Vegas' housing market since prices have continued to tumble by more than 56 percent from their peak back in April 2006.
It should be noted that home prices play a very important role in the economy. When property values rise, homeowners feel wealthier and in turn are more likely to spend money.
The Conference Board reported today that the Consumer Confidence Index rose to 52.9 in December with continued positive trends in home prices and a better employment outlook for 2010 which is up from a revised 50.6 in November. While 52.9 percent is far below a 90 percent reading that would show a solid economy, consumers' outlook on jobs for the first six months of 2010 reached their highest level in almost two years.
One factor that helped this positive outlook is the federal governments far reaching programs to create jobs and to make homeownership more affordable with the extension and expansion of the home-buyers tax credit which was extended in November to April 30.