Real estate price index rises in April

A monthly 20-city home-price index rose 3.8 percent year-over-year in April, Standard & Poor's reported today. Two of 18 U.S. markets covered -- Miami and New York City -- experienced monthly index drops from March 2010 to April 2010.

The Miami metro area dropped 0.2 percent from March to April in the seasonally adjusted S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, and 0.8 percent in the non-seasonally adjusted index.

Meanwhile, the New York City metro fell 0.1 percent in the seasonally adjusted index and 0.3 percent in the non-seasonally adjusted index.

The Washington, D.C., metro, had the highest monthly gain in the seasonally adjusted index, up 1.6 percent from March to April, followed by Detroit and Portland and San Francisco, all up 1.1 percent.

Washington, D.C., also topped the list for its monthly gain in the non-seasonally adjusted index, up 2.4 percent.

Nine of 20 metros experienced a year-over-year index drop in April, S&P also reported, while two markets had double-digit percentage gains.

The index rose 18 percent year-over-year in April for the San Francisco metro, 11.7 percent in the San Diego metro and 9.5 percent in the Minneapolis metro, while falling 8.5 percent in the Las Vegas metro, 3 percent in the Detroit metro and 2.8 percent in the Seattle metro, according to the report.

The index levels are close to April 2009 lows, said David M. Blitzer, chairman of S&P's Index Committee, in a statement.

"(M)any of the gains are modest and somewhat concentrated in California," Blitzer said, and month-over-month gains "were driven by the end of the federal first-time homebuyer tax credit program," which had a contract deadline of April 30.

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