Home prices continue to rise in most major cities

Prices increased in 18 of 20 cities, with Phoenix, a city hard hit during the housing crash, leading all cities with a 20.4 percent increase. In Atlanta, prices finally moved into positive territory, up 0.1 percent, halting 26 months of declines. 

Prices in 17 of the 20 cities posted better annual returns, with Detroit and Washington posting a slight deceleration in their annual rates. New York saw no change.

Meanwhile, 13 cities showed month-over-month price increases in September while Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland and New York experienced slight drops in home prices and Tampa, Fla., and Washington were flat. 

Chicago and New York were the only cities to post annual declines — 1.5 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively — and were also down 0.6 percent and 0.1 percent month over month.

“With six months of consistently rising home prices, it is safe to say that we are now in the midst of a recovery in the housing market,” Blitzer said.

Although this time of year is typically weak, “housing continues to improve,” he said.