U.S. home prices unexpectedly slipped in December but the annual rate of decline slowed, reinforcing the housing market's rocky road to recovery, Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller indexes showed on Tuesday.
The S&P composite index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas declined 0.2% in December, matching the dip in November, for a 3.1% annual drop.
A Reuters survey had forecast that prices would be unchanged for the month and down 3.2% annually.
The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. national home price index, which covers all nine census divisions, fell 2.5% in the fourth quarter from the same time a year earlier. This measure, like the 20-city and 10-city indexes, have seen smaller annual declines all through 2009.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the 20-city index rose 0.3% in December, S&P said, matching the November increase.
