The Standard & Poor’s / Case-Shiller home index – which measures house prices in 20 US cities – indicates that prices remained mostly flat in September, rising only 0.3 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis. The index had increased in recent months, climbing 3.5 percent since May, giving rise to optimism that the market was rebounding but September’s results have analysts rethinking their position.
“This may be a bit of a transition period,†said Maureen Maitland, vice president for index services at Standard & Poor’s, suggesting that the housing recovery could be more of a “W”-shaped recovery as opposed to a more direct “V”-shape.
