Single-family home prices unexpectedly climbed in April from March, driven by a final sales push before tax credits expired, but signs of a sustained recovery have yet to emerge, Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller home price indexes showed on Tuesday.
The S&P composite index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas for April rose 0.4% on a seasonally-adjusted basis after a downwardly revised 0.2% drop in March, compared with a 0.1% decline forecast in a Reuters survey. March prices were previously reported as unchanged.
On an unadjusted basis, prices gained 0.8% in April following March’s 0.5% drop. A 0.2% rise was forecast in a Reuters poll.
The 20-city index rose 3.8% in April from a year earlier, topping the expected 3.4% increase.
Home sales have fallen precipitously in the weeks since the April 30 end of tax credits of up to $8,000 U.S., which pushed sales forward as buyers raced to lock in the incentive.
Other reports have shown sales of new homes sank by a record 32.7% in May to the lowest level since record keeping began in the early 1960s, and existing home sales unexpectedly fell 2.2% in May.
Applications to buy homes hover at 13-year lows.
Still, affordability is high, with prices down around 30% on average from 2006 peaks and mortgage rates touching record lows near 4-3/4%.
