Aided by the home buyer tax credit, house prices have stabilized and begun to inch up. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city price index has risen in 10 of the last 12 months. On a year-over-year basis, the May index was up 4.6 percent. Further, 19 of the 20 cities saw an increase in prices from the previous month on a non-seasonally adjusted basis.

Not quite as rosy, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) price index has been up in each of the last three months, although the May index was down 1.1 percent from a year earlier. Prices were up in seven of the nine divisions of the country in May, but only two were up on a year-over-year basis.

June median new home prices were down a modest 0.6 percent from a year earlier, while June median single-family existing home prices rose 1.3 percent.

At a minimum, the home buyer tax credit has helped stabilize home prices and may have given them a bit of a lift. NAHB is forecasting that house prices will exhibit a mild upward slant during the remainder of this year and throughout next year. ?EUR??,,????'??? Courtesy of NAHB