Dallas-area home prices head sharply higher in latest Case-Shiller index By STEVE BROWN STEVE BROWN The Dallas Morning News Real Estate Editor stevebrown@dallasnews.com Published: 31 July 2012 08:34 AM Dallas-area home prices jumped by almost 4 percent in the latest national home price measure. It was the greatest rise in local home prices in more than two years in the closely-watched Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. And Dallas' 3.8 percent gain in May from a year earlier was one of the largest such increases in Case-Shiller's comparison of 20 major U.S. home markets. Nationwide prices were still slightly negative on an annual basis but up 2.2 percent in May from April, according to the report released Tuesday. “With May’s data, we saw a continuing trend of rising home prices for the spring,” S&P's David M. Blitzer said in the report. "However, we need to remember that spring and early summer are seasonally strong buying months so this trend must continue throughout the summer and into the fall. "The housing market seems to be stabilizing, but we are definitely in a wait-and-see mode for the next few months.” May was the third month in a row for year-over-year gains in Dallas-area home prices in the Case-Shiller study. And it was only the second time since the recession and housing crash that the local price increase was so high. The last time was in January 2010 when prices were up 4.1 percent from year earlier levels. Twelve of the 20 major U.S. home markets Case-Shiller tracks for its monthly report showed year-over-year gains in May. The largest annual increases where in Phoenix, 11.5 percent; Minneapolis, 4.7 percent, and Dallas' 3.8 percent. The steepest declines in prices were in Atlanta, 14.5 percent, and Las Vegas, 3.2 percent. Shiller’s index tracks over time the prices of specific single-family homes in each metropolitan area. The index survey does not include condominiums and townhouses. It only covers preowned properties — no new construction. The North Texas home market has seen a significant turnaround in 2012 after more than four years of declines. Preowned home sales in the area were 14 percent higher in the first half of the year compared with 2011 levels. And median home resale prices are so far 7 percent ahead of last year, according to data from real estate agents' multiple listing service. In some neighborhoods, houses are selling for more than asking price with multiple offers, according to agents.