The closely watched Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of 20 metropolitan areas rose 0.3% from December on a seasonally adjusted basis. That marked eight consecutive months of home values improving. The index also was down just 0.7% from the same month last year, the nearest that the year-over-year reading has come to positive territory in three years.
But expectations about housing’s direction remain mixed as a series of government initiatives intended to bolster sales and stabilize values begin to expire. Concern over a potential wave of foreclosures also remains high despite new efforts by the Obama administration to keep struggling borrowers in their homes.
Read more here: Home prices in California show strong, unexpected gains in January