S&P/Case-Shiller Rebounds As Home Prices Rise 1.6%

The composite index of home prices S & P / Case-Shiller 20 metropolitan areas in the country rose 1.6 percent in July over June, only 0.5 percent forecast by analysts polled by Reuters.

According to Reuters, which polled analysts, the later were hoping only for 0.5 percent. So the 0.6 extra increase above the expectations is a good news. Futures on the S & P 500 gained 3.3 points, the Dow Jones industrial average totaled 16 points and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 1.25 points.

However, despite the these overall improvement, all the metro area home prices still remain in the negative territory. In fact, 14 of the 20 metro areas the decline is in double digits. Only Denver, Dallas and Cleveland are nearly the positive territory.

Home prices in Las Vegas are the lowest. From it's 2006 pick they have falledn 54.8 percent. People just don't have the extra money or desire to play with their money. Therefore, this is an additional factor that has cut many jobs and has not created extra jobs in Las Vegas. Thus the sharp fall in the house prices of Las Vegas.

"In the monthly data, only Seattle and Las Vegas showed monthly declines. Thirteen of the 20 metro areas had three or more consecutive positive returns; and 16 MSAs and the two composites reported monthly returns greater than +1.0%," reports S&P/Case-Shiller Index.

Written by Armen Hareyan