The S&P/Case-Shiller 10- and 20-city Home Price Indexes rose at a modest pace of 0.3 percent in December, extending the string of recent gains into a seventh month. Year-over-year growth in the 10-city composite index rose from −4.5 percent to −2.4 percent, and the 20-city composite index rose from −5.3 percent to −3.1percent. Both indexes have shown steady improvement on a year-over-year basis since reaching their January troughs of roughly −19.0 percent. The U.S. national index, meanwhile, inched up 0.3 percent from the third quarter to the fourth, the smallest of three straight quarterly gains. The index is now down just 2.5 percent from a year earlier, a significant easing from larger declines in the rest of 2009.

The monthly FHFA Purchase-Only House Price Index sank 1.6 percent compared to its November level and by 1.5 percent compared to December 2008. December declines held true for all Census divisions except the Middle Atlantic, which includes New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The quarterly index was virtually unchanged in the fourth quarter of 2009, declining only 0.1 percent compared to the previous quarter and by 1.3 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2008. Although home prices in the section of the market covered by the FHFA index (those purchased with conforming mortgage loans) continue to drop, the rate of decrease has slowed considerably in the past year.

New single-family home sales plummeted 11.2 percent in January to a record low annual sales pace of 309,000 units. Sales have fallen in five of the past six months, erasing the mild recovery made between April and July last year after the previous low was reached in January. Declines were seen in all regions of the U.S. except the Midwest. Longer-term trends are weak, with three of the four regions posting large year-over-year declines. Home sales are down by 20 percent in the Northeast, 7.5 percent in the Midwest, and 10.5 percent in the South. The West is an exception, with sales up 13.8 percent over the past year. January’s drop comes as somewhat of a surprise, considering analysts had expected a slight gain. However, a report released last week shows promise for future demand, as construction permits for single-family homes rose for a third consecutive month.

The number of new homes on the market increased for the first time in January following a streak of declines spanning two and a half years. Accompanied by the large sales decline, the months’ supply of new homes at the current sales pace jumped 1.1 months in January, from 8.0 to 9.1, the highest since May 2009.

The S&P/Case-Shiller 10- and 20-city indexes both posted modest 0.2 percent increases in November, marking the sixth consecutive gain for each. The indexes are still down on a year-over year basis, −4.5 percent for the 10-city index and −5.3 percent for the 20-city index, but they have steadily been rising from January?s trough of roughly −19.0 percent.

The FHFA purchase-only house price index, meanwhile, rose at a faster pace of 0.7 percent in November, lifting its 12-month growth rate positive for the first time since September 2007, albeit to just 0.5 percent. Performance was split across regions. By Census division, all but one assigned the largest index weights contributed to December’s price increase, and the largest of the gains were seen in the Pacific and South Atlantic divisions. Divisions with smaller index weights, such as New England and East South Central, saw mild declines for the most part. However, it is generally true that areas seeing the most growth in recent months were the same ones to see the worst drops after house prices peaked a couple of years back.

Existing single-family home sales fell a larger-than-expected 16.8 percent in December following three straight months of growth exceeding 8 percent. The drop-off likely is attributable to the conclusion of the first-time homebuyers’ tax credit, and it pulled the annual sales pace down from 5.76 million units to 4.79 million. The months’ supply of existing single-family homes at the current sales pace rose from 6.2 to 6.9 months due to the steep sales decline, despite the simultaneous 8 percent retreat in inventory of homes for sale. For the first time since July 2006, the median existing-house price is up year-over-year, at $177,500.

Single-family housing starts dropped 6.9 percent in December, wiping out November’s 4.0 percent increase. At the current pace of 456,000 annual units, starts still sit historically low, despite the ground gained since January’s bottom of 357,000 units. Much progress was made earlier in the year with five straight increases beginning in March, but since August the series has fluctuated month-by-month, riding a slight overall downward trend. Despite the recent slippage, single-family starts are up 16.0 percent over the last year.

Permits for single-family starts rose 8.3 percent in December, the largest increase since February, putting permits up 37.3 percent from a year ago. The pace of permits has been inching upward and surpassed the pace of starts last month, possibly signaling a pickup in starts in coming months if the trend sticks.

The S&P/Case-Shiller 10- and 20-city indexes both advanced 0.4 in October, marking the fifth consecutive rise after 27 months of decline. Despite the fact that increases have slowed over the course of those five months, the indexes’ year-over-year growth rates look their best since October 2007. The 10- and 20-city composite indexes are now respectively down just 6.4 percent and7.3 percent year-over-year, compared to troughs of roughly −19 percent reached in January. Panning back to the bigger picture, the large decline in house prices since mid-2006 has set the indexes back to their late-2003 levels.

The FHFA purchase-only index increased 0.6 percent in October following a 0.4 percent slip in September. After riding a gradual downward slope since April 2007’s value of 223.6, the index has charted a relatively flat path starting January, averaging almost 200. The index’s 12-month growth rate is now its highest since December 2007, at −1.9 percent.

The national S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index rose 1.9 percent in the third quarter after a 1.8 percent-rise in the second quarter, marking the index’s first gains since early 2006. On a year-over-year basis, home prices are now down 8.9 percent, a sizeable improvement from where the series stood last month at −14.7 percent and the record low of -19.0 percent in the first quarter. The monthly data for the 10- and 20-city indexes also gained ground in September but exhibited the smallest of four consecutive increases. The 10-city index rose just 0.4 percent after a 1.2 percent increase in August, and the 20-city index advanced a less-than-expected 0.3 percent on the heels of a 1.1 percent gain. The 12-month growth rates for the 10- and 20-city indexes each improved roughly two percentage points and now stand respectively at −8.5 percent and −9.4 percent, their highest rates since late 2007.

The FHFA Purchase-Only House Price Index was virtually flat in September after a 0.5 percent-slip in August. On a quarterly basis, the index inched up 0.2 percent, its first increase since 2007:Q2. The index’s 12-month growth rate looks the best it has since February 2008, as it rose a percentage point to −3.0 percent. The total FHFA index, which includes data from refinancing transactions, fell 2.4 percent in the third quarter after an identical dip in the second quarter. This resulted in a four-quarter growth rate of −4.1 percent, matching the 40-year low previously achieved in 2008:Q4.

Existing single-family home sales jumped 9.7 percent in October, the largest percentage increase since 1983, following an 8.7 percent gain in September. Home sales have seen progressively larger gains since April, the only exception being a brief 3.0 percent setback in August. October’s large rise in sales boosted the annual sales pace to its highest level since February 2007, at 5.3 million units, while the 12-month growth rate also received a dramatic boost, from 7.0 percent to 21.4 percent. The inventory of existing single-family homes on the market dropped 3.2 percent, lowering the months’ supply from 7.6 to 6.8, well below the average supply of 10.0 months in 2008 and 8.7 in 2007. Despite the median sales price dropping a fourth straight month to $177,100, the series’ 12-month growth rate rose from −7.6 percent to −6.8 percent in October, roughly back to where it stood in June 2008.

Regional existing single-family home sales soared by double-digits in all but the West, where sales advanced just shy of 1.0 percent.

Single-family housing starts rebounded in September, rising 3.9 percent after a 4.7 percent setback in August interrupted solid growth that began in March. At an annual pace of 501,000 units, starts remain near historic lows but are up 40 percent from the record low in January. By region, the Northeast and South carried September’s gain, rising over 10 percent, while the Midwest and West both saw declines. The more volatile multi-family series, however, fell 15.2 percent over the month, leaving total housing starts with a small gain of only 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, the 12-month growth rate in single-family starts rose substantially, from −21.2 percent to −8.7 percent, the best the series has been since May 2006.

Permits for single-family homes dropped 3.0 percent in September after five months of increase, but the 12-month growth rate managed to continue inching up to −14.9 percent. Although still at a very depressed level, permits have increased 31.6 percent since their trough in January.

The national S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index rose 1.4 percent in the second quarter after falling by a record 6.8 percent in the first quarter, marking the index’s first increase since 2006. Home prices rose on a year-over-year basis for the first time since the third quarter of 2006, rising from −19.1 percent to −14.9 percent. The monthly data also showed improvement, with the 10- and 20-city indexes advancing for the first time since May 2006, both at a rate of 0.7 percent. This helped boost the 12-month growth rate to −15.1 percent for the 10-city index and −15.4 percent for the 20-city index, up nearly two percentage points.

The FHFA Purchase-Only House Price Index advanced 0.5 percent in June and has been fluctuating in and out of positive territory since January. The series’ 12-month growth rate now stands at −4.9 percent, up a percentage point from May and a low of −8.9 percent in November 2008. On a quarterly basis the total FHFA index, which includes data from refinancing transactions, dropped 2.4 percent after slight gains in the previous two quarters, causing the four-quarter growth rate to match its 40-year all-time low of −4.0 percent. The quarterly purchase-only index decreased at roughly the same 0.7 percent pace in the second quarter, but out-performed every quarter in 2008. This lifted the four-quarter growth rate from −7.1 percent to −6.1percent.

Payroll employment continued to drop sharply in March, declining by 663,000. This brings total job losses to 5.1 million since the start of the recession in December 2007. The unemployment rate continued its climb, increasing by 0.4 percentage point to 8.5 percent, the highest rate since 1983. While this is another grim report, it is in line with expectations.

In contrast to recent releases, the downward revisions to earlier months are less substantial in this report. January’s losses increased from 655,000 to 741,000, but February’s losses were left unchanged at 651,000. Job losses were spread broadly across all major sectors of the economy. Even education and health, the one sector that has shown steady growth, added only 8,000 jobs. Goods-producing industries shed 305,000 jobs, with manufacturing responsible for 161,000 and construction responsible for 126,000. Service-providing industries shed a total of 358,000 jobs, with the largest losses coming from professional & business services (−133,000). More than half of the losses in PBS came from temporary help services (−71,000). Retail trade lost 48,000 payrolls last month, with 12,000 stemming from auto dealerships. Employment in the financial sector declinced by 43,000 in March, leisure and hospitality declined 40,000, and transportation and warehousing lost 34,000 (half of this was in truck transportation). In the public sector, the federal government continued to hire, but losses at the state and local levels resulted in a total government loss of 5,000 jobs.