The Standard Poor’s/Case-Shiller index showed Tuesday that home prices increased in August from July in 10 of the 20 cities tracked. That was the fifth consecutive month that at least half of the cities in the survey showed monthly gains.
The biggest price increases were in Washington, Chicago and Detroit. The greatest declines were in Atlanta and Los Angeles.
The August figures provide a “modest glimmer of hope” that some areas may have bottomed out and could be turning around, said David M. Blitzer, chairman of S. P.’s index committee.
He noted that cities in the Midwest — Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis — had shown some strength since May.
In Detroit, the recovering auto industry has helped lead a small rebound in the housing market. Home prices have risen 2.7 percent since August 2010, making it and Washington the only two cities to post a year-over-year gain in that time.
Detroit was one of the cities hit hardest after the housing bubble burst more than four years ago. Home prices there are coming off 1995 levels. So the gains are relatively small compared with how far prices had fallen.
In Minneapolis and Chicago, fewer homes are being put on sale, leading to higher prices and better sales figures. That is probably because of fewer foreclosures in those cities. September’s drop in homes for sale in the Twin Cities was the largest in more than seven years, according to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors.
Still, Robert J. Shiller, the co-founder of the index and an economics professor at Yale, told CNBC that overall home prices were “flat” and a recovery in the housing market was not on the horizon.
The index, which covers half of all homes in the United States, measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The August figures are the latest available.
Prices are certain to fall again once banks resume millions of foreclosures. They have been delayed because of a yearlong government investigation of mortgage lending practices.
A second private group reported on Tuesday that Americans say they feel worse about the economy than they have since the depths of the great recession. Consumer confidence fell in October to the lowest level since March 2009, reflecting the big hit the stock market took this summer and frustration with an recovery that does not feel like one.
The Conference Board, a private research group, said its index of consumer sentiment came in at 39.8, down about six points from September and seven points lower than economists were expecting.
The reading is still well above the 26.9 recorded two and a half years ago. But it is not even within shouting distance of 90, which is what it takes to signal that the economy is on solid footing.
Economists watch consumer confidence closely because consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity. The index measures how shoppers feel about business conditions, the job market and the next six months.
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