The May Case-Shiller brought great news for the Texas housing market, with home prices in the state putting up some of the best numbers in the nation.

May was a historic month for home prices in the Lone Star State, with prices in the Dallas metro area hitting new highs in the May Case-Shiller from Standard & Poor’s.

Though S&P does not specifically track home prices for Houston, its Dallas numbers are the best sign yet of Texas’ strong housing market; with its 2.0 percent increase from April to May and 7.6 percent from May 2012, Dallas’ home prices are now above their pre-recession levels, and Dallas is one of only two cities nationwide to have reached that milestone.

Home Prices Rising Nationwide

The news was similarly positive nationwide:

• The 10- and 20-City Composites, which measure home prices for the 10 and 20 largest metro areas in the U.S., posted monthly increases of 2.5 and 2.4 percent.
• For May, both Dallas and Denver reached new record levels in the Case-Shiller, the first time any city in the index has surpassed pre-recession highs.
• Year-over-year, the 10- and 20-City Composites were up 11.8 and 12.2 percent, respectively.
• As of May 2013, the most recent month of data for the Case-Shiller, home prices are back to their spring 2004 levels, meaning they are still approximately 24-25 percent below their June/July 2006 peaks.

 David M. Blitzer – “Home Prices Continue to Strengthen”

May’s Case-Shiller report, said David M. Blitzer, the chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, is further indication of a strengthening housing market.

“Home prices continue to strengthen,” Blitzer said. “Two cities set new highs, surpassing their pre-crisis levels and five cities – Atlanta, Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle – posted monthly gains of over three percent, also a first time event … Monthly numbers before seasonal adjustment showed all 20 cities experienced rising prices.”