Home prices fall in January but continue double-digit yearly gains

Home prices slipped in January for the third straight month as a combination factors, including severe winter weather, stifled the housing market’s recovery.  

Prices declined 0.1 percent in January the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index reported Tuesday.

{mosads}But the index reflected healthy double-digit gains year-over-year — 13.2 percent from January 2013, slowing from the 13.4 percent increase posted for all of last year.

Price gains have slowed since late summer as mortgage rates have ticked up and bad winter weather plagued most of the nation, weighing on demand.

Still, there is an expectation that the market will pick up pace with warmer temperatures during the spring buying season.

“The housing recovery may have taken a breather due to the cold weather,” says David  Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

“Expectations and recent data point to continued home price gains for 2014,” he said.

Although most analysts do not expect the same rapid increases we saw last year, the consensus is for moderating gains.”

Overall, 12 of 20 cities reported declining prices in January, eight of which were worse than the month before.

Still, all 20 cities showed a year-over-year increase, led by gains of 24.9 percent in Las Vegas and 23.1 percent in San Francisco.

At 4 percent, Cleveland posted the smallest increase.

Only seven cities — Las Vegas, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Tampa and Washington — showed positive monthly returns in January.

New York and Washington posted their highest year-over-year returns since 2006.

“From the bottom in 2012, prices are up 23 percent and the housing market is showing signs of moving forward with more normal price increases,” Blitzer said.

The index is not seasonally adjusted.