Americans paid more for new homes in October, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home-price index.
The index, released on Wednesday, showed that home prices in 20 metropolitan areas increased 4.3% compared to October of last year. That topped the 4% rise economists had forecast, Reuters noted.
Prices for single-family homes in October rose a seasonally-adjusted 0.7% over September in the 20 major metropolitan areas. That beat the 0.5% increase anticipated by economists and marked the ninth straight monthly price rise.
Home prices rose the most in Las Vegas, up 2.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis. San Diego saw home prices gain 1.7%. However, without the seasonal adjustment, home prices actually declined, compared to September, in 12 of the 20 metropolitan areas.
David Blitzer at Standard & Poor’s noted that the index showed that the recovery of the U.S. housing market was continuing to strengthen.
The better-than-expected results had little effect on homebuilders. Shares of Ryland (NYSE:RYL) rose fractionally, while shares of D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI) and Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) slipped slightly in Wednesday morning trading.
