The latest Case-Shiller from Standard & Poor's was positive from April to May, suggesting good things for home prices.

National home prices in rose by 2.2 percent from April to May in the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Indices from Standard & Poor’s, with 17 of the 20 metropolitan areas surveyed seeing their annual returns increase.

Though S&P does not track home prices in Houston, it does follow the Dallas market, and there prices were up a strong 3.8 percent from May 2011 after increasing 2.8 percent the month before, continuing the Lone Star State’s strong 2012 housing performance.

David M. Blitzer, the chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said the latest Case-Shiller continues a positive seasonal trend for prices, though he preached caution for the rest of 2012

“With May’s data, we saw a continuing trend of rising home prices for the spring,” Blitzer said. “We have observed two consecutive months of increasing home prices and overall improvements in monthly and annual returns; 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.”

“June data for existing home sales, new home sales, housing starts and mortgage default rates were a bit mixed, but all are better than their year-ago levels,” Blitzer continued. “The housing market seems to be stabilizing, but we are definitely in a wait-and-see mode for the next few months.”