WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. home prices scaled new heights in April, with seven cities – including Boston, Charlotte, Portland, Oregon, San Francisco and Seattle- setting record highs.
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index increased 5.4 percent in April compared with a year earlier, just a tick down from the 5.5 percent annual gain in March.
Home values are now just 9.6 percent below their peak nearly a decade ago, according to the report released Tuesday.
Shrinking inventories of homes for sale have boosted prices, while a healthy job market and historically low mortgage rates have kept demand from potential buyers strong during the spring months associated with the highest volume of sales.
The number of listings has fallen 5.7 percent from a year ago, the National Association of Realtors said last week.