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CASE-SHILLER: Home Prices Rise 5.52%, The Most Since August 2006
Case-Shiller home prices climbed 5.52 percent year-over-year, in line with expectations of a 5.55 percent rise.
This was the highest level since August 2006.
On the month they were up 0.63 percent, slightly below expectations of a 0.7 percent rise.
In the year-ending November, 19 of the 20 cities included in the index saw home prices rise. Just New York reported a fall in prices. On a monthly basis however the picture wasn't as clean, with just 10 cities seeing home prices rise.
"Winter is usually a weak period for housing which explains why we now see about half the cities with falling month-to-month prices compared to 20 out of 20 seeing rising prices last summer," said David Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Here's a look a the trajectory of 20-city home price index since 2001:
Millan Mulraine at TD Securities writes that "the sustained improvement in home prices has become central to the recent recovery in household wealth, with the $1.3 trillion increase in households' home equity since Q4 2011, accounting for over one-third of the $4.5 trillion increase in household net worth over the same period."
But some like Quinn Eddins at RadarLogic argue that the recent rise in home prices reflects the weakness in 2011 home prices, more than strength in 2012 home prices.
SEE ALSO: Optimists Are Ignoring Two Key Things About The US Housing Recovery >
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