LPS: Home Prices See Slight Monthly Increase in September

Home prices rose just slightly over the month of September, demonstrating a 0.1 percent increase from August, according to ""Lender Processing Services' (LPS')"":http://www.lpsvcs.com/Pages/default.aspx Home Price Index, which analyzes home prices in more than 15,500 ZIP codes each month. The September Home Price Index stands at $205,000, according to LPS.

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The modest increase lines with the latest ""S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index"":http://www.themreport.com/articles/case-shiller-sept-home-prices-up-momentum-slows-2012-11-27, which came in under economists' expectations.

While the 0.1 percent increase is slight, LPS does report more significant change on a yearly and year-to-date basis. Home prices have risen 3.6 percent from last September and 4.9 percent over the year thus far.

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States experiencing the largest increases in September include Arizona (1.1 percent), Washington, D.C. (1.1 percent), Georgia (0.8 percent), Delaware (0.7 percent), and Maryland (0.7 percent).

States experiencing the greatest decreases in prices over the month include Massachusetts (-0.7 percent), Connecticut (-0.7 percent), Illinois (-0.6 percent), Vermont (-0.4 percent), and Rhode Island (-0.3 percent).

With Arizona topping the list of states with the greatest monthly price increases, one of its metros, Phoenix, topped the list of metros with the greatest price increases, according to LPS' data. Home prices in Phoenix rose 1.3 percent in September.

Phoenix was followed by Ocean Pines, Maryland (1.1 percent), Sacramento, California (0.9 percent), Atlanta (0.8 percent), Baltimore (0.8 percent), Prescott, Arizona (0.8 percent).

Metros with the greatest price declines in September include Bridgeport, Maryland (-0.9 percent), Worcester, Massachusetts (-0.7 percent), Norwich, Connecticut (-0.8 percent), Hartford, Connecticut (-0.8 percent), Torrington, Connecticut (-0.7 percent).

While prices are showing improvement nationally, they remain 22.8 percent below their June 2006 peak of $265,000.