July marked a fourth consecutive month of slight gains in home prices in its surveys covering major cities across the nation, researchers who put together the widely watched S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices just reported.

The researchers' 10-city and 20-city composite indexes each rose 0.9 percent in July from June.

Their report adds that: "Seventeen of the 20 [metropolitan areas] ... posted positive monthly increases; Las Vegas and Phoenix were down over the month and Denver was unchanged. On an annual basis, Detroit and Washington D.C. were the two [areas] that posted positive rates of change, up 1.2 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. The remaining 18 [regions] and the 10- and 20- City Composites were down in July 2011 versus the same month last year."

So, cautions David Blitzer, who chairs the committee that puts together the report, "we are still far from a sustained recovery. Eighteen of the 20 cities and both composites are showing that home prices are still below where they were a year ago."

The numbers:

Atlanta: Up 0.2 percent in July from June; down 5 percent from July 2010.

Boston: Up 0.8 percent in July from June; down 1.9 percent from July 2010.

Charlotte: Up 0.1 percent in July from June; down 3.9 percent from July 2010.

Chicago: Up 1.9 percent in July from June; down 6.6 percent from July 2010.

Cleveland: Up 0.8 percent in July from June; down 5.4 percent from July 2010.

Dallas: Up 0.9 percent in July from June; down 3.2 percent from July 2010.

Denver: Unchanged in July from June; down 2.1 percent from July 2010.

Detroit: Up 3.8 percent in July from June; up 1.2 percent from July 2010.

Las Vegas: Down 0.2 percent in July from June; down 5.4 percent from July 2010.

Los Angeles: Up 0.2 percent in July from June; down 3.5 percent from July 2010.

Miami: Up 1.2 percent in July from June; down 4.6 percent from July 2010.

Minneapolis: Up 2.6 percent in July from June; down 9.1 percent from July 2010.

New York City: Up 1.1 percent in July from June; down 3.7 percent from July 2010.

Phoenix: Down 0.1 percent in July from June; down 8.8 percent from July 2010.

Portland: Up 1 percent in July from June; down 8.4 percent from July 2010.

San Diego: Up 0.1 percent in July from June; down 5.9 percent from July 2010.

San Francisco: Up 0.3 percent in July from June; down 5.6 percent from July 2010.

Seattle: Up 0.1 percent in July from June; down 6.4 percent from July 2010.

Tampa: Up 0.8 percent in July from June; down 6.2 percent from July 2010.

Washington, D.C.: Up 2.4 percent in July from June; up 0.3 percent from July 2010.

20-city composite: Up 0.9 percent in July from June; down 4.1 percent from July 2010.

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.